You'll Never Build a Strong Future On A Shaky Foundation

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ramsey Show – "You'll Never Build a Strong Future On A Shaky Foundation"

Release Date: July 23, 2025
Host: Dave Ramsey and Ken Coleman
Description: The Ramsey Show empowers listeners to build wealth, find fulfilling work, and cultivate meaningful relationships by offering practical financial advice.

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1. Navigating Special Needs Finances

Caller: Jasmine from Austin, Texas
Topic: Managing financial stipends for an adopted daughter with special needs.

Jasmine shares her journey through Baby Step Three and her concerns about her ex-husband's poor financial habits affecting their daughter, who receives a monthly stipend continuing until she turns 21 due to her special needs. She seeks advice on empowering her daughter financially without fostering a dependence that hinders her growth.

Dave Ramsey's Advice: Dave emphasizes the importance of teaching financial principles such as "give, save, spend" to instill responsible money habits. He advises giving enough allowance to allow for minor failures, which serve as learning experiences.

“I would give them enough money to fail and it not be spectacular.” [02:09]

Jasmine's Contribution: Jasmine reinforces the concept by likening financial teaching moments to coaching in sports, where mistakes become opportunities for learning.

“DNA is powerful... understanding why she may react that way, it's going to give you more patience, more grace and more mercy.” [04:35]

2. Handling Divorce and Financial Betrayal

Caller: Allison from Gainesville, Georgia
Topic: Dealing with divorce when the husband has mismanaged and squandered finances.

Allison is navigating an unexpected divorce where her husband, the primary breadwinner, has taken and spent their joint funds. She is juggling nursing school, multiple jobs, and the financial instability post-separation.

Dave Ramsey's Guidance: Dave advises Allison to strengthen her legal stance to reclaim the funds. He suggests not saving additional money in joint accounts and ensuring all future finances are kept separate to prevent further depletion.

“Do not put any money on anything that he gets access to, ever.” [14:25]

Jasmine's Insight: Jasmine empathizes with Allison's predicament, highlighting the importance of assertive legal action and maintaining financial independence.

“They can't refinance because he's not smart enough.” [15:50]

3. Managing Lottery Winnings Responsibly

Caller: Joe from Columbus, Ohio
Topic: Strategies for handling a $1 million lottery win.

Joe and his wife won a $1 million scratch-off ticket and are overwhelmed by tax implications and deciding how to manage their newfound wealth responsibly.

Dave Ramsey's Recommendations: Dave urges Joe to seek immediate professional tax advice to accurately understand the tax obligations. He emphasizes the need for a detailed budget to allocate funds carefully, avoiding impulsive spending.

“Write down where every one of these dollars give them every name before they come.” [62:10]

Jasmine's Support: Jasmine concurs, stressing the importance of planning and not reacting emotionally to sudden wealth, ensuring longevity of the funds.

“Develop a plan together and execute it without emotion.” [63:59]

4. Transitioning Careers Amidst Financial Uncertainty

Caller: Lisa from Jacksonville, Florida
Topic: Facing early retirement due to company layoffs and seeking next steps.

Lisa, a 64-year-old editor, was laid off and is contemplating retirement earlier than planned. She seeks guidance on financial stability and career transitions.

Dave Ramsey's Strategy: Dave suggests focusing on transferable skills and leveraging her editing background to seek new employment opportunities. He advises maintaining financial discipline and avoiding rash decisions without a clear plan.

“Your next move is to increase your income and decrease your outgo.” [90:42]

Jasmine's Approach: Jasmine emphasizes networking and leveraging existing skills to secure freelance projects or part-time work, ensuring continuous income while exploring long-term solutions.

“Confidence up. Own that narrative.” [93:22]

5. Exiting a Dysfunctional Partnership

Caller: Colin from Arizona
Topic: Deciding when to leave a profitable but emotionally draining business partnership.

Colin earns a substantial income from a $3 million-a-year business but feels disrespected and sees no potential for positive change within the partnership dynamics.

Dave Ramsey's Position: Dave strongly advocates for ending dysfunctional partnerships to preserve personal well-being and financial stability. He warns that staying in such environments can lead to inevitable business failure and personal resentment.

“The probability of this being your income from this business if you stuck around miserable for an extended period of time is precisely zero.” [78:43]

Jasmine's Input: Jasmine agrees, highlighting the importance of prioritizing mental and emotional health over financial gains, encouraging Colin to seek a buyout to regain control over his professional life.

“It's the right thing to do when the partnership becomes toxic.” [77:18]

6. Coping with Financial Infidelity

Caller: Jennifer
Topic: Overcoming hidden debts and rebuilding trust after discovering the husband's secret financial activities.

Jennifer shares her struggle with uncovering $100,000 in undisclosed credit card and tax debt accumulated by her husband, who resists budgeting and transparency.

Dave Ramsey's Advice: Dave recommends couples therapy and strict financial boundaries to rebuild trust. He stresses the necessity of joint financial management and clear consequences for continued financial secrecy.

“Behavior is a language... what he's doing is screaming, I don't want to build a life together.” [50:16]

Jasmine's Support: Jasmine suggests establishing firm boundaries and possibly separating finances to prevent further financial misconduct while working towards mutual financial goals.

“Set clear boundaries and hold accountable to those agreements.” [52:00]

7. Utilizing Inherited Wealth Wisely

Caller: Heather from Orlando
Topic: Managing and understanding inherited investments after her mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis.

Heather feels overwhelmed managing her mother's diverse investment portfolio, which she inherited. She seeks clarity on handling these assets effectively.

Dave Ramsey's Solution: Dave advises Heather to hire a SmartVestor Pro, a trusted financial advisor who can educate her on managing investments and creating a structured financial plan tailored to her needs.

“You need someone in your corner with the heart of a teacher.” [83:39]

Jasmine's Recommendation: Jasmine reinforces the importance of professional financial guidance, ensuring Heather can make informed decisions without feeling overwhelmed by the complexities of her inherited assets.

“Learn how to manage this half million dollars with professional help.” [84:10]

8. Success Stories: Achieving Financial Freedom

Guests: Lowry and Stephanie Lawson from North Carolina
Topic: Paying off $710,000 in debt over eight years through disciplined financial planning.

Lowry and Stephanie share their inspirational journey from being deep in debt to achieving financial freedom. They discuss the strategies they employed, such as budgeting, selling unnecessary assets, and maintaining a focused income-to-debt ratio.

Key Highlights:

• Debt-Free Achievement: Paid off $710,000 in debt within eight years.
• Income Management: Balanced increasing incomes with strategic debt repayment.
• Family Support: Leveraged support from like-minded individuals and church community.
• Positive Lifestyle Changes: Simplified living to enhance financial stability.

“We sold two rental homes, a truck, a camper. We paid off student loans and seven credit cards.” [108:04]

“We became Gazelle Intense. We sold everything that we could possibly sell.” [110:41]

9. Common Themes and Takeaways

• Budgeting and Financial Planning: Consistently emphasized as foundational to building a secure financial future.
• Professional Guidance: Encouraged seeking expert advice for complex financial situations.
• Emotional and Mental Well-being: Highlighted the importance of maintaining personal health alongside financial stability.
• Accountability and Transparency: Stressed the need for honest financial management within relationships and partnerships.
• Adaptability: Advised listeners to remain flexible and proactive in the face of financial challenges.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “Give them enough money to fail and it not be spectacular.” – Dave Ramsey [02:09]
• “Behavior is a language... what he's doing is screaming, I don't want to build a life together.” – Dave Ramsey [50:16]
• “You need someone in your corner with the heart of a teacher.” – Dave Ramsey [83:39]
• “We became Gazelle Intense. We sold everything that we could possibly sell.” – Lowry Lawson [110:41]

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Conclusion

In this episode of The Ramsey Show, Dave Ramsey and his team provide comprehensive financial advice across a spectrum of real-life challenges, from managing sudden wealth and recovering from financial betrayal to navigating complex family dynamics and business partnerships. The recurring emphasis on budgeting, professional guidance, and maintaining emotional well-being underscores the show's commitment to empowering listeners to build a stable and prosperous financial future.

Listeners are encouraged to apply the principles discussed, seek professional assistance when needed, and prioritize both financial and personal health to overcome obstacles and achieve lasting financial freedom.

Transcript

[Dave Ramsey]

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create actual amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host Ken Coleman Ramsey, personal number one best selling author and host of the new hit runaway hit on Ramsey network. It's called Front row seat. He's my co host today. Thanks for hanging out with us, America. Jasmine is in Austin, Texas. Hi Jasmine, how are you?

[Ken Coleman]

Good. Every night is there but I could show you some advice.

[Dave Ramsey]

I hear you. I will try. How can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

I am halfway through baby step three and the other characters in my question are my ex husband who's a good guy but a bad financial role model and our daughter who we adopted through foster care who's about to turn since we document through foster care she receives a stipend or well we receive a stipend for her care every month and we've just gotten approval based on some special needs for her for that stipend to be not only continued to the age of 21 but also increased fairly significantly. And I am really excited to use that as a tool to empower her financially, help her, you know, start out really strong. Ken, it's exciting that you're on here. I convinced her to read Paycheck to purpose with me last year when she was looking for her first job. She did it but she decided she wanted to start with paycheck and didn't really care about the purpose at that point.

[Jasmine]

That's not abnormal.

[Ken Coleman]

But I have hopes. I have hopes. And so yeah, I know that you talk a lot about financial education with kids but it feels a little bit different. And my co parent has very reasonably pointed out that if you just give a teenager a bunch of money every month, that's not helping them. Yeah. What's the best way to handle this?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, Ken, as as it would be happens to have two of his three are adopted and in the same age group as well. So. All right, so he's, he's the man today.

[Jasmine]

Well no, not true but I think that with your, with your child I would give them enough money to fail and it not be spectacular. In other words not the whole stipend but I would give them enough that you can do some teaching. And one of the things I've learned, as with all kids, they all have different personalities. The three Ramsey kids are all different how they handle money. And that's true of my boys and of course my daughter and so with our oldest, he's 18, same as yours, and you know, letting him make those mistakes and get to a place where he wants something or he wants to do something. And of course we're monitoring his accounts and all that. And the biggest moments for us have been, and this is tough for Stacy, I'll be very candid, like she wants to be more hands on and I have a little bit more hands off approach because when he's broke, it's amazing, Dave, how my words tend to ring.

[Dave Ramsey]

A little clearer and the humility increases with the bank account decreasing.

[Jasmine]

It does. And I also don't have to say I told you so. I just have to say here's the reality. And I'm able to go, hey, you're a spender. And I'm able to talk through basic things. So, you know, I would start with give, save, spend. You know, the little banks that we've been popular forever with, Ramsey solutions. I think those three pieces of the pie are really great to teach. And I would model it first, pull back on a lot of the heavy teaching and look for instruction moments, much like a coach would. If I'm playing a sport and the coach sees me mess a play up, there's the best opportunity for a coach to step in and say, hey, the reason you dropped the ball is you took your eye off the ball and you turned up field before you saw the ball come into your hands. That's the approach that I would take because DNA is powerful and in this case there's a lot of history because now we adopted out of Foster and so she. Is it a daughter, Is that right? Yeah. So one of the things I would be very sensitive to, not sensitive and I'm afraid to talk about it, but sensitive to be become very aware of her past story and how whatever has been her story up to this point, when you adopted her, how would those experiences affect the way she looks at money? And I think that could be the greatest way to teach the Ramsey principles, the give, save, spend, the live on a budget, all that. But within the context of what maybe she thinks thinks about money. And my guess is she has a scarcity mindset. And you going into it, understanding why she may react that way, it's going to give you more patience, more grace and more mercy.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you said, you said a special need. What's the nature of the special need?

[Ken Coleman]

I'd rather not try to describe it, but college isn't on the table for her, but at least not right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

But like a community, is she Able to. Is she gonna be able to sustain a career and sustainability, create a sustainable life?

[Ken Coleman]

God, Dave, I hope so. She's got a fighting chance.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Based on the, based on the special need is what I'm asking.

[Ken Coleman]

Right? Yeah. If she doesn't, it won't be directly and completely because of that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. That's all I'm asking. Okay. I don't need to know anything else. That's so. So, yeah. Then. Then what? But it's amazing. If you've got a kid that is a valedictorian, I still would approach it with give some, save some, spend some wisely, earn money and have a written plan to do all of those. All three of those. And that's called a budget. And those are very basic things. You can teach a six year old a version of that. You can teach a 16 year old, a 26 year old, a version of that. And the further she gets up the age range towards having 100% control of this money, whether you want her to or not, like at 21, the more you're going to have to be discussing this with her like a, like the child of a friend of yours who came to you for advice. You would not have any authoritarian, authoritarian power. Your only power would be persuasion.

[Ken Coleman]

On that note, would you be willing to unpack this idea of letting her fail? Because that feels so scary. Like failure.

[Dave Ramsey]

Non fatal failure. So we opened a checking account. Rachel Cruz bounced three checks the first month.

[Jasmine]

Oh yeah, that's not spectacular. Here's another one. You know, you go, hey, you pay for your gas now that you've got a car and you're, you know, you start paying for gas. So he comes back from college and guess what? He's broke because he didn't start a job right away. That's a fail. In other words, he's like, I can't drive, so my friends are picking me up. So he had to call his friends and go, I'm literally unable to drive because I have no gas money. This happened the first week this summer and that's a fail because he didn't plan for that and he spent too much money and he didn't work at college last semester. And I said, I think you need to.

[Dave Ramsey]

And Ken doesn't own a helicopter. I don't have a helicopter in.

[Jasmine]

I didn't. And so that's a fail in a fun way. In other words, he was frustrated. He's like, dad, I can't go. And I go, well, when's your next paycheck? And guess who is Thriving now all of a sudden and realizing if I want to do something fun that's not in the category of mom and dad, I don't pay for fun. Okay?

[Ken Coleman]

Right.

[Jasmine]

And so what I mean by let them fail is let them be broke, let them not be able to go to something. And then he learns I should probably go get a job because mom and dad are no longer paying for it. That's what I mean.

[Dave Ramsey]

Or I did not set money in savings the way that I was coached to do. And so then something happens. I don't have the money to fix it or run it or buy it or whatever it is that can't go on that, you know, that trip or whatever it is they haven't got the money for because they didn't follow the plan you gave them to follow. My favorite, this falls in the category of natural consequences.

[Jasmine]

Natural consequences. Mark Twain said. You know, he Talked about the 18 year old who went away to college, complete convinced that his dad was a moron, came back four years later astonished at how much his dad had learned. Classic Mark Twain. You know, tell him, but then let him do it. See how it ends up.

[Dave Ramsey]

Life is unpredictable. That's why I teach the importance of things like having an emergency fund, buying term life insurance, and getting a will from my friends at Mama Bear Legal forums. Because if you don't plan ahead for when you're gone, it can cause a big mess. And that's the last thing your family needs, especially when they're grieving your loss at the same time. But a will spells out exactly what you want to happen after you've passed away. No guesswork, no courtrooms and no family fights. Just peace and clarity. It's your way of saying, I love you and I took care of this so you don't have to. And thanks to Mama Bear, getting your will done is fast, easy and affordable. In just 20 minutes, you can give your family the peace of mind they'll need during one of the most challenging times of their lives. And unlike a lot of other wheel companies, the price you see at the beginning is the price you pay at mama bear legalforms.com so take care of it today. Go to mamabearlegalforms.com use the promo code Ramsey to save 20%. That's 20% off with code [e-mail] Allison is in Gainesville, Georgia. Hi, Allison. Welcome to the Ramsey Show.

[Ken Coleman]

Thank you, sir. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. How can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir. So thank you so much for picking up My phone call. Currently, I'm in a bit of a bind. My husband decided to leave our marriage on March 2 and he was our breadwinner and he has taken our money and it's just a really sad situation. So right now I'm in the middle of an expected divorce. I'm having my family financially support me through this. I am in nursing school. I am 90% done with it. I've picked up two full time jobs and I'm just trying to figure out how to navigate this divorce financially to allow myself some financial independence once I graduate and moving forward.

[Dave Ramsey]

How long have you all been married?

[Ken Coleman]

Huh? We will be married four years in August, but I've been with him Since I was 16 and this was very, very much so, not like.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. And you said he took all of the money. What does that mean?

[Ken Coleman]

He makes a little over $6,000 a month and that is half of that is disability check from the VA in regards to PTSD and some other things.

[Dave Ramsey]

Was there any actual. Was there any actual savings account or money that he took?

[Ken Coleman]

There was $52,000 and I moved six of that and went to move the rest and he got the rest of it overnight and he has spent it since he's left.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow. Do you not have an attorney?

[Ken Coleman]

I do have an attorney, but right now it's a really kind of drawn out process that we have the temporary court and he already violated the temporary order not paying his portion of things. And I'm. Every time I save up at the nest egg, it gets depleted by paying the bills like the car ins and stuff that I have to have to maintain my job and my schooling.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. So it sounds like your attorney needs to dial up the heat. Yes, I really want. Because your husband in the state of Georgia does not have rights to half of the money or to all of the money. He only has rights to half of it.

[Ken Coleman]

Correct.

[Dave Ramsey]

And so I want the rest of it coming to you now.

[Ken Coleman]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I don't believe. And I don't believe he spent the other. I don't believe he spent the other money. I think that's a lie.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I will tell you that I have seen some extra spending and I can tell you that after about 30 of that 15 has been spent on extracurricular activities. Closed. Guns, weapons that he should not be having.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, I, you know, so listen, I want the guns then so I can sell them.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because he spent my money on them. So your lawyer needs to be bust and some chops, kiddo. Okay. That's thing one Then. Because you're not. He doesn't have. He doesn't have the power to do all this stuff unless you all stand by and watch him do it and do nothing about it. So you get what you tolerate in that part of it. Now, as far as the putting him and this mess in the rearview mirror. You're working two jobs. You're going to nursing school. Congratulations. Great choices. That sounds like a really good way your family's helping. Helping you right now till you can get on your feet and get the other side of this tragedy, this mess. But if you just stay on the track that you're on, in one year, you're going to be in a really much better place than you are today. Agreed?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, and I agree. And that's where I'm trying to stay focused on. The frustration lies in that I'm putting money into the savings account for me that he has already agreed not to touch and move moving forward.

[Dave Ramsey]

But, no, don't put any money in a savings. Don't want. No.

[Jasmine]

Have separate accounts.

[Dave Ramsey]

Do not put any money on anything that he gets access to, ever.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes. No, I moved. I moved everything. So it's. It's. He doesn't have access to this new bank.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, absolutely. And you just take care of you and moving forward, and then you go get your half of what he screwed off with. But, I mean, you may have a great gun collection for a little while till you get it sold. That's okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Sure.

[Dave Ramsey]

I literally would back the pickup up over there with a court order and clean out his gun safe. I know how to hurt a redneck. I'm just saying so.

[Ken Coleman]

Sure.

[Jasmine]

Oh. Sometimes you say things that I really, really find entertaining, and that was a great one. I really know how to hurt a redneck. Dave Ramsey. Allison, what are you. What is your income right now with these two jobs?

[Ken Coleman]

I make about 22, 2500amonth. One job is stable. The other job is home health care. So I just pick up the emergency shifts that's needed for people, and so it's good to have the solid one and then the other one just, you know.

[Dave Ramsey]

How long before you finish nursing school?

[Ken Coleman]

I have till May of next year, and then I'll graduate. And I've already spoken to a lender to kind of give me an idea of what I'll need with the newer paying job, with the degree to get the house in my name. But that's, you know, far away.

[Dave Ramsey]

You know what? I'm not really worried about that house. I'm fine. If you just Sell that house.

[Jasmine]

I'm in the same boat.

[Ken Coleman]

I have nowhere else to go.

[Jasmine]

Yeah, sure you do.

[Dave Ramsey]

There's lots of houses in Georgia you can rent.

[Jasmine]

You can.

[Dave Ramsey]

You got apartments. There's lots of things. You don't need that house.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I have come to figure out that I can quick. I think it's called quick. Claim deed the house. So the house is 1300 right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, you can't hunt. Okay. You really may need a new lawyer. Your lawyer may be an idiot. If you quit claim deed the house to him, you are still on the mortgage.

[Ken Coleman]

Sure.

[Dave Ramsey]

With an idiot. No, absolutely we're not doing that. Absolutely we're not doing that.

[Ken Coleman]

Do not refinance it in my name once I graduate.

[Dave Ramsey]

Don't keep the house. Force the sale of the house and put the money in your pocket to start your new life with. Go rent you a one bedroom and go be a nurse and work 80 hours a week and make 150 to $200,000 a year, your first year from May on. And now let's start talking about buying a house. But I promise you, you would not buy that house three years from today. And you're sitting on 50 or $60,000 as a down payment. And you're debt free because you're following Ramsey's stuff and you're looking out the rear, looking out the windshield and occasionally glancing up in the rear view mirror laughing that that guy's gone. And when that is you three years from today, you are not living in that house. You wouldn't go pick that house three years from today. Allison would not buy that house. That's hanging onto something that you don't need to hang on to. I'd let that thing go, but don't let him keep it either. Force the sale of it and put the equity in your pocket. Oh, and by the way, that's a way you could recoup the part of the 50 grand in the savings account that he stole. You can get that back out of the equity.

[Ken Coleman]

His portion of equity we refund. We bought it in May of last year, we refinanced it in February, and it gave us an extra 300amonth to put back into our pocket now that we both weren't working full time, but we agreed to do that, so obviously there's no equity in the home.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, okay. Well, so much for the equity. One more reason. You don't want it.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sell it to get rid of the problem.

[Jasmine]

That's right.

[Ken Coleman]

I just. I just don't want to occur any More debt? Because we're going to be under. If I sell.

[Dave Ramsey]

Maybe we're not going to.

[Ken Coleman]

Maybe.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, maybe. So far you've only collected your information from him. And Zillow you need like, a real. Real estate agent and a court order demanding that you all sell this house. And I think you're going to get enough out of it to break even or more. I thought you had a bunch of equity. I'm sorry, but earlier in the discussion. But anyway. Yeah, but now. Now that you don't have any equity, it's a super big deal. Don't keep it. You don't want a house up to your eyeballs and a brand new nurse just finishing up. And by the way, how are you gonna pay the payments from now until then? No, thank you. Let's get rid of this thing.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, the agreement was so with the court order is that he was going back to paying the full amount of mortgage. And so I agreed to some other things.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's a temporary thing. That's not the divorce settlement.

[Ken Coleman]

I just. I know there's other houses, but my thing is I have. I have to wait until I get that degree in order to be able to get an apartment. Apartments around here require.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Absolutely a lie. Nope. Nope. Somebody else. Where are you gathering your information? You're not actually. Listen, we sat down. We have the Ramsey personality sit down and call apartment complexes. They call 40 of them. Three said you needed to prove with a credit score your ability to rent. The rest of them said if you put up a deposit and come over here and sign a lease and you show us that you're working and making $2,500 a month, and you can show that then they're going to let you move into an apartment you are way running. Listen, don't make decisions based on fear. Part of. Part of what this has done is it's made you afraid. And you're. You're. You're splashing around. Some of the things you're doing are very good, and other things you're doing is out of desperation and fear. Do not keep a house you can't afford because you think you can't rent an apartment. That's a lie. Sell that house and make him sell it. Don't let him keep it. You don't want to stay on that mortgage. And this guy can't refinance because he's not smart enough.

[Jasmine]

Okay, Rachel, the Internet officially knows too much about all of us.

[Ken Coleman]

So much, George. I mean, our names, our Addresses, even our relatives names. And what's crazy is even if you opt out, data broker websites can still get your info.

[Jasmine]

Don't like that. And just a year ago, get this, the average person had about 300 pieces of personal data floating around online. Now it's over 600. It has doubled in a year.

[Dave Ramsey]

You guys.

[Ken Coleman]

That is so concerning. Because that info then can be used in phishing, scams, impersonation and even harassments. That's why George and I both use and love Delete Me.

[Jasmine]

Yes, Delete Me scrubs your personal info from hundreds of these data broker sites, not just once, but all year long. And there's real privacy experts behind the scenes doing this, not bots. So this is digital hygiene. We all need.

[Ken Coleman]

We all need it. And then they will send you a detailed report showing exactly where they found your data and what they removed. And you can even request custom removals if you have something specific you want.

[Dave Ramsey]

Them to look out for.

[Jasmine]

Exactly. And this is not being paranoid, this is staying protected. And so far Delete Me has removed my info from 240listings and saved me 94 hours of time it would have taken me to do it.

[Ken Coleman]

I love it.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you guys, in a world where.

[Ken Coleman]

Strangers can google your grandma and get enough info to scam her in just two clicks clicks, Delete Me gives you peace of mind.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yes.

[Jasmine]

So go to joindeleteme.com Ramsey for 20 off and that discount brings their annual plans down to about 9 bucks a month. So go check it out. Joindeleteme.com Ramsey.

[Dave Ramsey]

Foreign thank you for joining us America. If you like what you're hearing, we would appreciate some help. How can you help? Well, you click the follow button, you click the subscribe button, you click the share button, or you cut out the link and you share it with someone. If you're listening on talk radio, you tell people where you're listening and when you're listening and that the Ramsey show is giving you information and inspiration that's helping you. Those five star reviews help the algorithms on the podcast and YouTube stuff as well. So regardless of the platform, when you jump in and you participate in the platform, it moves our show to the front of the line in the algorithms and puts it out there where other people see it. And when you do that, we say thank you. Buying or selling a home is a big deal right now. With all the clickbait headlines and conflicting data out there, it's hard to know what is actually happening in the housing market. It so instead of believing what you're seeing on the Internet. Why don't you actually look at the facts? Here's an idea. Go to Ramsey Solutions.com market and we've got all the information there. For instance, at this moment there's 1036 or 1,036,101 homes on the market in America. That's the actual number. It's the most homes on the market since 2019. So. And we've got more buyers activated in the market right now than we've seen. And so we're not seeing prices go down for the third month in the row we've seen the median house prices go up in America. Current median house price is 441,000. Now they've not gone up a lot in the last three months, but they're going up every month. Interest rates are sitting steady right below 6%. Just, they're like, they're frozen there. And 15 year fixed rates 5.95 right now. And so and has been for like a month and a half, two months. So this market is a very predictable environment to put something on the market and sell it. That's the kind of stuff this data tells you and you get with a good real estate agent that actually knows their stuff that's high octane, high protein and gets it done. Ramseysolutions.com Market or click the link in the show notes dawn is in Louisville, Kentucky. Hi dawn, how are you?

[Ken Coleman]

I'm good. I am currently in the early stages of baby step two and I know in order for me to pay off my debt that I'm going to need to get a good side hustle and I want to turn it into something more than a side hustle. I recently became a commission notary public and I'm wanting to add to the services that I offer and become a loan signing agent.

[Dave Ramsey]

You want to become a what?

[Ken Coleman]

A loan signing agent.

[Dave Ramsey]

A loan signing agent, yes, sir. And you are on the Internet. There's no such thing.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, yes it is. They, they help real estate agents close with their, with their closings.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, they don't. Real estate agents don't use that. You read that on the Internet. Somebody's trying to sell you a course, aren't they?

[Ken Coleman]

National Notary Association.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Yeah. There's no big money in notarizing stuff either. It's like 15 bucks a squeeze. It's not a big deal. And so no, there are closing agents and they work for title companies and, or law firms that close real estate transactions. Real estate agents use those closing agents to run the payoffs down and to get the paperwork lined up, get the title searches done. And they don't work for real estate agents. They work for a title company and, or a law firm that has a title company. And that's who closes real estate loans transactions. Real estate agents don't have loan closing agents. There's no such thing. Loan signing agents, is that what you called it?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. They're trying to sell you. How much is the course they're trying to sell you once it cost about $300. Yeah, that's about $300 I just saved you. You don't believe me? You need to listen, here's what you need to do. You need to get off the phone and you need to call six real estate agents whose signs you see all over the place and ask them if they use a loan signing agent or a closing agent. They do not. They're going to. Everyone are going to tell you this thing doesn't exist. I've had my real estate license since 1978, okay. I own hundreds of millions of pieces of dollars in real estate I have never even heard of what the flip you're talking about. Okay. And so it just doesn't exist, hun. This is just one of those Internet things where they're trying to get money out of you to get you to go get a class to do some side hustle that doesn't really exist. And it's, it's. You know we used to see that stuff in the back of comic books, but no. Did you just type it in over there while I heard you typing?

[Jasmine]

I did, I did.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's, what's it come up? AI says it's a thing.

[Jasmine]

A loan signing agent is a notary, also known as a notary public, loan signing agent, specialized notary public who facilitates the final stages of a loan process.

[Dave Ramsey]

So yep, that's a notary public. Right. Saying that, but they don't do it.

[Jasmine]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

There's no actual thing out there. Yeah, that, that came. That. AI picked that up on Google straight off those stinking people's websites. What happened?

[Jasmine]

And that's. Right. Well there's multiple links here that are.

[Dave Ramsey]

All, all selling a course essentially. Yeah. But I defy you to find a real estate agent that has one on staff, I promise you.

[Jasmine]

Yeah, I was trying to think what we did when we went to an actual law firm is where we went on our last house in Tennessee.

[Dave Ramsey]

In Tennessee, a lot of the title companies are run by law firms. But in other places sometimes just the title company does it. Right. Or sometimes in a small Town just title company does it. It's not unusual for a law firm to be involved as the escrow agent or whatever, but believe me, they have a notary on staff. A notary is squeeze. That's it. That's what you do. It's no, it's not a thing. It's just put their little emblem on there and witness the signatures. It's, you know, it's not a thing. So I've been a notary most of my life. I finally dropped it because I just didn't have any need for anymore. We got six in the building here, but yeah, I think it'd be funny.

[Jasmine]

For me to bring my documents to you.

[Dave Ramsey]

You have.

[Jasmine]

You notarize them. That'd be kind of fun.

[Dave Ramsey]

That has happened in years past at Ramsey, but really not anymore. Somebody selling their car, they want the car title notarized. I got the notary in my thing. I sign it.

[Jasmine]

That's fun.

[Dave Ramsey]

Watch them sign it. No charge for Dave.

[Jasmine]

I do think there's. To your point, there's just if. If I'm you don. I'm going to go get a better paying side. Hustle.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yes.

[Jasmine]

That's the play. And your. Your mind is in the right space. I just think there's better bang for your time on that.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Quit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You go do something that's like real, you know, like, you know, here, here's the thing. You can make about 50 bucks an hour right now cleaning houses. And that's a whole lot more than you can make doing this. You make 40 bucks an hour depending on, you know, which neighborhood you're in in Louisville, Kentucky. Right. Okay. If you've got a. If you're a teacher, you can make 50 to $75 an hour tutoring after school. You don't want to go be a notary. You want to be a tutor. You know, go do something like that. That's pretty. You know, I would rather you have told me that you bought a set of clippers on Amazon and now you cut dog's hair because that's a real thing. And you actually would make money doing that.

[Jasmine]

Yeah. By the way, you're right. You're talking about an average of $20 an hour for a notary. An average.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. But you don't even get an hour.

[Jasmine]

I know. That's my point.

[Dave Ramsey]

It takes about 45 seconds.

[Jasmine]

Yeah. And you nail it, you can make way more money doing something else.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. You don't get an hour out of that. I mean, if you notarize an hour's worth of papers, you're gonna have a callus. I mean, it's just not. There's no such. I mean, that's. That's a phone book. That doesn't work that way. So, guys, since I've been on the air, there have been scam artists of various kinds selling careers that don't exist or that have very minimal. The number of people that have become medical transcriptionists is like probably 100 or a thousand fold. The actual need. Because they read somewhere that if you become a medical transcriptionist that you make. No, no, no. There's. There's just not that big a need. There's a need, but if there's a big enough need, a doctor just hires one work in his office. I mean, it's just not a. It's not like this massive union out there of medical transcriptionists who just run around. It just doesn't. You know, but boy, a lot of people spend a lot of money doing that. Let's face it, health insurance today is more complicated than ever. The system isn't built to help the average person understand and it leaves too many families unprotected. That's why you need my friends at Health Trust Financial. They aren't just brokers. They're trusted health insurance advisors who have been helping families like yours for over 20 years. You don't have to navigate it alone. The experts at Health Trust Financial listen to your needs, work to understand your family situation and budget, then help you choose the health insurance plan that's right for you. That's why they're Ramsey trusted and why we've worked with them for two decades. Look, medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy in America today. One hospital visit can wipe out your savings and undo all your hard work. So health insurance isn't optional. It's part of your financial defense plan. Health Trust Financial knows their stuff and they're the only health insurance provider I recommend. So get clear about health insurance plans and get the coverage that's right for you. At Health Trust financial.com Joe is with us in Columbus, Ohio. Hi Joe, how are you? Good, good. How can we help? Yeah, so when I got out of.

[Ken Coleman]

College a couple years ago, I bought a business on land contract and I'm now in a position to pay it off. My accountant told me not to, but I know sometimes you say not to follow accountants advice, so I just wondered what I should do.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, you understand that a land contract, you don't own anything yet.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Gotcha. So your accountant is suggesting that you don't stay in an ownership position. You're in a very unstable and vulnerable position. And your accountant suggested you stay there. Mm. Because the property, the business, is not titled to you.

[Ken Coleman]

Right. Yeah, until I pay it off.

[Dave Ramsey]

I know. I know how a land contract works. Yeah. What I'm telling you. Yeah. And so your accountant is a fool. You need to fire him.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Do you have the money to pay this off?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, about 550 in the account, and the balance is 450 on the loan.

[Dave Ramsey]

What are you doing? What's your business?

[Ken Coleman]

I've got a store.

[Dave Ramsey]

Selling what?

[Ken Coleman]

Jewelry, things like that. Watches.

[Dave Ramsey]

Man, you're killing it. Way to go. How old are you?

[Ken Coleman]

24.

[Dave Ramsey]

So you rolled into a gold mine. No pun intended. I did.

[Ken Coleman]

I feel very blessed for what God has given me.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, and you're obviously working your butt off. Congratulations. So how long ago did you do this deal?

[Ken Coleman]

About two years.

[Dave Ramsey]

And in two years you put 550k in the bank?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, we profit about 480 last year, and we're on track to profit about 500 this year.

[Dave Ramsey]

Dude, you are an absolute student. It wasn't lucky. You've been. Hey, luck comes dressed in work clothes, man. Yeah, you've been getting it, and you've learned the business and you're managing the business well. I'm dead serious. If I woke up in your shoes, I'd fire my accountant. He gave you bad legal advice and bad tax advice. Let me walk you through both. Okay? One is, the guy that owns the store right now is not you. You are contracted to own the store, and this store is printing money. If he decides to go sideways and not give you this, you're gonna have to sue him for title because you don't have the title to this business yet. So it's very important from a legal vulnerability position that you get this store into your name before this guy looks up and realizes you're bailing money over there. Yeah, okay. Or worse than that, he has two glasses of wine at dinner and hits somebody head on. And they sue him for $2 million. And one of his assets goes to the family that was hit head on. And one of the assets is your store because it's not your store, it's his store.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, that's true.

[Jasmine]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. You're vulnerable big time. So your accountant is a fool. The second thing is, your accountant is telling you to keep this loan. That's not really a. Because you can write off the interest. Correct?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, he said because at the end of the Year, my tax bill will be due. He said I don't want to drain the accounts too much because I'm going to owe like 150 to 200 in taxes.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're going to have plenty of money, aren't you? This is July.

[Ken Coleman]

True. Yeah. I got five more months to make some money.

[Dave Ramsey]

You'll be okay. And you got 550. You only need 480 plus 150.

[Ken Coleman]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

You'll be there. Okay. And he's not. So he wasn't telling you to keep it because the interest is a write off. No, no. He's just afraid you want to the money, pay your taxes. By the way, you've got till April to pay your taxes, not the end of the year.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, that's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

They're due April 15th or something.

[Dave Ramsey]

Exactly. So, yeah, I'm really scared when I. When I. When someone that I'm counting on to give me good advice gives me bad advice, that means I need someone else to give me advice. I believe in getting good advice and the multitude of counsel, their safety, the Bible says. But. Yeah. Wow.

[Jasmine]

I don't think you were clear enough on that.

[Dave Ramsey]

You think I held back?

[Jasmine]

Yeah. I'd like to give Joe a little bit more advice.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's not my day to hold back.

[Jasmine]

No, I think it's.

[Dave Ramsey]

I didn't get signed up for that this morning.

[Jasmine]

Today, Joe, like pay it off today.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, like you're going to sleep. I would go over there with a cashier's check and make sure he signs the paperwork into your name before I put my head on the pillow tonight.

[Jasmine]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Run by the bank. Get you a cashier's check right now. Go pay the man.

[Jasmine]

That's gonna feel good.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, man. Well, I feel good just talking to Joe. He's just in it. You're 24 years old. He's making 480 last year.

[Jasmine]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Ding, ding, ding.

[Jasmine]

Selling some jewelry. It was very ho. Humble.

[Dave Ramsey]

But in America today, there's systemic problems and the corporations have all the money and the little man. Oh, shut up. Look at Joe. Let me just tell you. Joe's getting her done, man. I like it. Anthony. Anthony's in Boston. Hey, Anthony, how are you?

[Ken Coleman]

Hey, Dave. I'm great. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. How can I help?

[Ken Coleman]

Great. Thanks for taking my call. Really looking for some career advice here. So I'm 26 years old, living in Boston. Currently work in corporate America. But my real passion is in firefighting, which I've been doing part time since 2018. And recently I got the opportunity to get hired by a full time department. Where I grew up, the issue is my parents who have always kind of turned for financial and career advice, don't support this decision. And they say I'm leaving potential on the table because I could be using my degrees making four times as much in corporate America. So I'm wondering if you think I should follow my passion and have a lower wage throughout my career.

[Dave Ramsey]

Four times, yeah.

[Jasmine]

What do you make next?

[Ken Coleman]

So right now I'm only making 85.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's your degree?

[Ken Coleman]

I have my NBA.

[Jasmine]

Okay, yeah, but what's your path if you play this out? Mom and dad. Does mom and dad's prediction match up to the actual path that you have corporately?

[Ken Coleman]

I would say so, yeah. At the company I'm at right now.

[Jasmine]

And you would make how much and.

[Dave Ramsey]

How many quarter million dollars a year?

[Ken Coleman]

Just about, yeah. Yeah, that's what my managers make.

[Dave Ramsey]

And so how long did it take to get there?

[Ken Coleman]

About 10 to 12 years where I'm at right now.

[Jasmine]

Forget it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Plus or minus bs.

[Jasmine]

What are you going to make as a firefighter? I just looked up on the Internet, but I want to know what, you know, what's the average?

[Ken Coleman]

So I actually have inside of the union contract where I'll be getting hired and you know, my base salary will be around 80, but you know, only increase about 2 to 3% every year. So that's where they see it being an issue if I want to have a family in the, you know, expensive market that Boston is.

[Dave Ramsey]

The firefighters that I know typically work four tens or three twelves.

[Ken Coleman]

Correct? Yeah, this would be one on one off, one on five days off. So that's another thing.

[Dave Ramsey]

So use your MBA and start and do what all the other firefighters I know do and start a side business.

[Jasmine]

Yeah, but what about overtime? That 84 or 80 base, what's your overtime possibilities?

[Ken Coleman]

So right now it's a lot. It could be an extra 15 to 30 grand a year on average.

[Jasmine]

Yeah. I'm seeing multiple sources that have a range of 84 to 134. And these are legitimate like job sites. I mean, so this isn't like, you know, so you got an opportunity. Here's the point that I would make. You can do very well through what Dave said, side hustles on that downtime or overtime. And if you invest wisely, you're only 26. Do you have any debt at all?

[Ken Coleman]

No debt and a pretty good nest egg.

[Jasmine]

Then I'm going to tell you this right now, you will resent your mother and father, if you do what they wish for you now, I think their heart is in the right place. They want the best for you. But in this case, this is a open and closed case for me that you should pursue being a fireman and pursue the life that you want to live because you're going to be a very unhappy, regret and resentful person if you play this out as mom and dad want you to. And for that reason I would say no, don't do what mom and dad tell you there.

[Dave Ramsey]

And I'll reiterate and say there was something you were scratching when you went and got the MBA other than just following their wishes. And so you probably have pretty serious business acumen and there's no reason you can't start a side hustle that probably doubles your income. Again. I know a lot of firefighters we work with over the years and it's not unusual for one of them to have a business that makes a as much as they make being a fireman. Because of the way your schedule works, you've just got tons of time to do to work on stuff. So I really would pursue that. But that but I just say love you mom and dad and I just think I'm going to go this way. And the good news about being 28 is they have an opinion but they don't get a vote. I get it. Switching banks is a pain in the you know what. But if your bank doesn't line up with your money goals, it's time to make the switch to Fair Winds Credit Union. Listen, you guys know how I feel about big banks. They make money when you stay broke, charging you overdraft fees, pushing credit cards and telling you debt is normal. And that's why I only work with folks who help you, not just profit off of you. Fairwinds is different. They're owned by their members, their non profit and they share our values. They even advertise with billboards saying they want their members to be debt free. So they built the Smart Checking in Savings bundle just for Ramsey fans. You can open your account online in minutes and here's what you get. Free checking with no minimums and no monthly fees. Savings with a high apy to help you in baby step one and beyond and a mobile app that actually makes sense. Plus you also get access to over 33,000 fee free ATMs and more than 5,000 affiliated branches nationwide. So don't settle for a bank that slows your progress down. Choose one that's built to help you win with money. Go to Fairwinds.org Ramsey and open your smart bundle today.

[Jasmine]

Fairwinds is federally insured by the NCU.

[Dave Ramsey]

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, the Ramsey Show. We help people build wealth, do work that they love, and create actual amazing relationships. Ken Coleman Ramsey, personality number one, best selling author and host of the runaway hit Front row seat on the Ramsey network. She's my co host today. I gotta tell you, Ken, one of my favorite episodes and one of my favorite pieces, Become a good friend recently just dropped, I guess today. Yes, this morning on Front row Seat. He's moved to our area here and he and I have become friends during the time he's been here. A guy named Jimmy John. And yes, that's the sandwich. And yes, he did sell that organization for billions with an S. And yes, he has some really great stories. You have to watch this episode of Front row Seat. You will be blown away. You will learn something. You will laugh, and I dare say you will probably cry.

[Jasmine]

You will cry and I will tell you, if you have a kid, a teenager, a college student who's thinking entrepreneurial, working for themselves, if you yourself have got a side hustle trying to get out of debt, watch this episode. It'll put fire under you. Because this guy started off with absolutely nothing and sheer hustle and all kinds.

[Dave Ramsey]

Of obstacles and it's a great American success story.

[Jasmine]

That's exactly right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And he's good guy.

[Jasmine]

Oh, he's a joy to listen to.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, it's just fun. He's fun storyteller. So you're gonna, you're gonna love this episode, Front row Seat. And you can find it on podcast and YouTube both. And this episode, I think that episode dropped today. And we taped one yesterday. Me and John Maxwell and Pat Lincioni. And those two guys are like walking encyclopedias on leadership. And so, and I, me and Ken got to watch them. I mean, it was like gold. It was gold. So I was there for the comedy relief and they were there for the talent, but man, it was incredible.

[Jasmine]

Dave dropped some dimes. They all did. It's gonna be special. It's gonna be special.

[Dave Ramsey]

That one after you finish with the edit will be great.

[Jasmine]

I don't know. We're kicking the idea around of releasing it in two parts. Here's the first hour. Here's the second hour. Because it was. There were no edits necessary. They were just.

[Dave Ramsey]

There's some stuff. All right. Jennifer is in Boston. Hey, Jennifer. How you are? Are you.

[Ken Coleman]

I am fantastic. How are you guys?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. How can we help.

[Ken Coleman]

Awesome. Well, I have a question about how to move forward after financial infidelity. I found out in the fall about $100,000 of debt that I didn't know about. And we have paid it off. We're in Baby Step 3. We're about halfway through Baby Step 3.

[Dave Ramsey]

Right now with about 25,000 used to purchase.

[Ken Coleman]

It was credit cards that I didn't know about and also tax debt.

[Dave Ramsey]

What was the credit card was purchased on the credit cards.

[Ken Coleman]

My husband was laid off and was using a credit card for a time span that I did not know about.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so he was handling 100% of the household money.

[Ken Coleman]

Correct.

[Dave Ramsey]

And the way he covered the lack of income was he borrowed for the family on credit cards.

[Ken Coleman]

Exactly.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you didn't know about it because you're not involved in the handling of the money.

[Ken Coleman]

I was not at that time. Since I found out about that, we have combined finances. I insisted upon that. I insisted on counseling. I insisted on a budget. And we use every dollar budgeting app. But he hates the budget. He says sharing accounts and the budget are the worst decision he's ever made. He doesn't track expenses. He undermines the budget by going on solo trips and spending when and where he wants. Every about the budget turns into a huge argument. The threats of leaving and the perception of others is incredibly important. So even having a budget is embarrassing to him. And I don't know if we can get past this. I don't know how to get on the same page. I don't know how. I don't. I don't know what to do.

[Jasmine]

How is therapy done?

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm sorry.

[Ken Coleman]

It hasn't gone well. He hates going to therapy because when he goes to therapy, he feels like a failure.

[Dave Ramsey]

Because he's failing. Yeah. Cause you feel like a failure. Yeah. When you're failing at your marriage and because you do whatever the flip you want to do regardless of the implications of it, then that would be embarrassing in therapy. Yeah, that makes sense. That's logical. It's kind of like. It's kind of like eating 17 donuts and then going and seeing your trainer. You know, I mean, it's like, yeah, it doesn't go well, you know? Okay, well, I. You know, this is not a financial problem, hun. It's a marriage problem. It's manifesting itself. It's manifesting itself in the finances, but it's a I want to do what I want to do thing, and I don't want to be aligned with and be in agreement with anyone. Else. I don't want anyone else speaking into any of my decisions. I don't really want to be married, is what he's actually saying. I'm afraid. I hope not. I hope I'm wrong. But that's kind of what the. You know, Deloney taught me a saying when I'm hanging out with him, his PhD in counseling. He says, behavior is a language.

[Ken Coleman]

I say that all the time.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, and that's what this is. It's what I'm seeing. Regardless of what you're saying, it's what you do. And what he's doing is screaming, you know, I don't really want to build a life together. I want to be able to do whatever I want to do when I want to do it. Like a 4 year old on the cereal aisle throwing a fit because they want Froot Loops and that. It's very immature what you're describing because you can be mature and say, hey, part of putting the budget together is I want to have money to do X. And that's a fair argument. But instead just going, oh, well, I don't really like this. It's the worst decision I've ever made because it's actually somebody holding me accountable now for my ridiculous behaviors. So, golly, that's so sad. I'm so sorry. Well, I think the answer is in your pastor's office and in your marriage counselor's office, that if the two of you can solve for. For building a future together rather than trying to be roommates.

[Jasmine]

Hey, Jennifer, do you know enough about his past to know if he comes from an entitlement?

[Ken Coleman]

Very much so.

[Jasmine]

I had a sense of that. I am no therapist. Don't want to try to be one, but I'm just. I got a hunch I would talk to the therapist about this, get some real professional insight. A pastor as well. But I think it's. Do you want to do. If this marriage could be fixed, would you do whatever it takes?

[Ken Coleman]

Absolutely.

[Jasmine]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

I wouldn't have stayed.

[Jasmine]

That's what I thought.

[Ken Coleman]

He's been lying since the beginning of our marriage.

[Jasmine]

I had a hunch.

[Dave Ramsey]

That long you've been married?

[Ken Coleman]

Six years.

[Jasmine]

Okay, let me, Let me finish this thought.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. I just wanted to get.

[Jasmine]

Yeah, yeah. No, I. I had a hunch and I don't know why I had that hunch, but I had a hunch that he came from entitlement. And I think if it were me, me with guidance, I would draw a line in the sand and put him in a situation where he realizes he's got to decide. I think he's threatened you before to leave and I think that's a spoiled brat play. It feels very entitled and I don't know that he doesn't need his bluff called and I think it's that serious. But I get some other insight on that. I'm not talking about a threat, but I mean a real boundary, a line in the sand. If you don't change, this is done. I don't think he's ever had any consequences in his life. I, I talked to somebody about that.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's just his mommy's a helicopter. Right?

[Ken Coleman]

Just. They're perfect. He's perfect.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, that's. Yeah, that sounds right.

[Ken Coleman]

The latest argument, the latest argument from this weekend was because I just realized that after week after month, he still had hasn't switched his direct deposit over so that it's going into our joint account.

[Dave Ramsey]

Wow. I would have realized that the first week, I think. But yeah, yeah. You guys, you need to. It's the marriage counseling office that this gets saved, kid. It's not here. I'm sorry. Sorry you're facing this.

[Ken Coleman]

Foreign.

[Jasmine]

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[Dave Ramsey]

Sarah is in Chicago. Hi, Sarah. How you are? Are you.

[Ken Coleman]

Hi, how are you guys? Thank you for taking my phone call.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sure. How can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Few questions. Mainly me and my husband were blessed about three weeks ago when he just went into the local gas station and just grabbed a random scratch off lottery ticket. End up being a $1 million scratch off ticket.

[Jasmine]

You gotta be kidding me. Are you for real?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, yes. We're still in shock.

[Jasmine]

Tell me really quick, how did that. How did he tell you? What was that like?

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, confused. I was completely confused. He. I don't know, he panicked.

[Dave Ramsey]

He couldn't make. He couldn't even make a sentence.

[Ken Coleman]

Exactly. He ran home, which was only just a couple blocks away, and I forgot the car. Understand?

[Jasmine]

Yeah. Where was the car? That's great.

[Ken Coleman]

Well, he drove home. He drove home.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm kidding.

[Ken Coleman]

He probably shouldn't have because he was so. So. Wow.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. So have you been. You've been in contact with the state, I assume?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, we just claimed it about a week ago. We try to do our research. We are way in overhead.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

It ends up being we both agree to take the lump sum, which ends up being $600,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Right.

[Ken Coleman]

Which we are still happy and feel very blessed to have that.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's more than you had the week before.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jasmine]

Now you have a different appreciation for taxes, don't you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, that's the lump sum because the million was a payout over a number of years. But that's not net of taxes, correct?

[Ken Coleman]

No. After we finally receive it, which should probably be another month or so, and after taxes, it ends up being a little bit over 400,000.

[Jasmine]

Yeah.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Hello. Well. And who told you that? Who told you that?

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, when we went to go claim it, they broke it all down for us. I mean, that's kind of.

[Dave Ramsey]

The state told you that?

[Ken Coleman]

My research. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. No, no, no, stop. Okay, stop. First thing we're going to do is get a tax professional to find out what's real and what's not there. And state of Illinois has a tax. And of course the federal government has a tax in the United States. But you need a tax professional that can sit down and work it all through. We don't research numbers this big. We don't research information on the Internet. Everything on the Internet's true. Abraham Lincoln said that. Right. Not. So you get bad information there. And you get bad information when you use bureaucrats at the state who hand out lottery proceeds. They're not tax professionals. So it's going to be worth $1,000 or whatever. It is 500 bucks to get some professional tax advice. That's the first thing you do. And you can get one. Just going to ramseysolutions.com, find an ELP and endorse local provider that does taxes. That is Ramsey trusted that we have vetted and we know what they're doing, and they need to go. And you need to feel very calm and peaceful when you leave their office after having learned about what actual taxes are. And they can show you in just a few minutes to the penny.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think the numbers you got. I think the numbers you got might have been aggressive. I don't think your taxes are going to be quite that bad. But they are going to be bad. Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

So, yeah, you're going to learn about that. Then you figure out what you've got left after taxes, and then what are you going to do?

[Ken Coleman]

Two things that we planned on is we want to pay off the house, and we do have credit card debt.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. How much are those two things?

[Ken Coleman]

The house is right underneath 100,000. And then our credit card debt would be about 23,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. I like those plans. Those are good plans. Okay. And what are you. What do you drive?

[Ken Coleman]

I drive a Kia. My husband and I both have cars that are completely paid off.

[Dave Ramsey]

I know. What are they? How old are they? How worn out are they?

[Ken Coleman]

Mine's still in great condition. I think it's a 2015, so you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Don'T need to upgrade yours. What about his?

[Ken Coleman]

I think he probably wants to upgrade his because it's starting to give him a little bit of car problems. We've been having to fix it up a little bit.

[Dave Ramsey]

What is it?

[Ken Coleman]

It's a 2017 Chevy. So this is a little bit newer, but it's like I said, his has given us a little issue lately.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. So you put a budget on that, and you don't break that budget. What's your household income?

[Ken Coleman]

Good question. I believe he makes about 50,000 a year. I probably make a little under that, 40 or 45 a year.

[Dave Ramsey]

So the people that have regrets and that people tell ugly stories about after they win the lotto are those that are not intentional. You have to be very careful and very intentional. So kind of what we're doing right now is what I would recommend, and that is we begin to lay out before the money gets here, after meeting with the tax person. First thing we do is pay taxes. Second thing we do is this. Third thing we do is that and so on. And you basically have a budget. You know, say we've got $500,000 or whatever the number is, and we spend that. So we spend 123. We put another 20 on car, so we spent 143. What are we gonna do with this? We're gonna give some, we're gonna invest some. We're gonna invest a lot, and we're gonna go on with our lives by being on a budget and not tap into this money. And I don't care if you want to go on a trip and celebrate. I don't care if you want to upgrade your couch. All of those things are fine. Those aren't the things that get lottery winners in trouble. The things that will get lottery winners in trouble is when they get a half a million and they go spend 5 million.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. I just. I want to be very careful. And like I said, I'm overwhelmed. I didn't know where to start.

[Dave Ramsey]

The way you eat an elephant's a bite at a time. So we're going to write that. Write the number at the top of the page that we're getting after. And then minus taxes and then minus house. Exactly. Minus credit cards. And cut them up so they don't grow back.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

And don't walk around acting like you're rich, because you're going to figure out pretty quick you ain't rich. Rich. This is sweet and it's very nice and I'm happy for you, but you didn't get 5 million. You got 500,000. And it'll be gone in about an eye blink if you're not really, really careful. So I kind of want you to be in a. Not terrified and not paralyzed with fear. But I want you to have a healthy fear, a healthy respect of someone just handed you a loaded gun and you don't know anything about guns. Be very careful to learn.

[Ken Coleman]

I have that fear already, okay? That is why I called you guys. I'm just scared it's going to be gone before we know it.

[Jasmine]

No, no, no, no, no.

[Dave Ramsey]

It won't be if you do what I'm talking about. If you write down where every one of these dollars give them every name before they come. We're going to put 150,000 in savings. We're going to spend 50,000 renovating this. We're going to go on a cruise for 10,000. I don't care what it is, as long as when you total it all up, it equals the amount you're going to get. And just make a list. Every dollar is going into something. Generosity, investing, fun. Upgrade car, pay off credit cards, trip couch. I'm making these things up. I don't know what they are. Okay. But write them down. And then both of you look at that. And you've got a little time to get ready emotionally before. And so when the check comes, it's boring. Yeah, because you just execute your little list, right? And there's no emotion. There's no four year old dancing around the kitchen. We've already had that moment. That was pretty cool. I'm okay with that. But don't dance around the kitchen after you get the check and change your plan. Develop a plan. And then it's boring. You just execute the plan.

[Ken Coleman]

Got it.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Now, the second person I'm going to send you to is you need to sit down with a SmartVestor Pro. Someone to help you learn about investing and decide where you're going to invest some of this.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

I would really appreciate that, because we really don't have much of a. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And they. They need to have the heart of a teacher. And they can show you. Okay. You could put this much into a Roth, you could put this much into this. And you can start your mutual funds over here and so on. How old are you guys?

[Ken Coleman]

40. I'm 40. My husband's 39.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you invest $300,000, in seven years, it'll be 600,000. In seven more years, it'll be a million two. And in seven more years, it'll be 2.4.

[Ken Coleman]

God, that would be nice.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. But you gotta keep your stinking hands off of it. And you gotta invest it. So go to ramseysolutions.com and click on Smartvestor Pro and sit down with someone with the heart of a teacher. You get a real opportunity to change your family tree if you. If you're careful.

[Jasmine]

George, I went my whole life avoiding being on the Internet, and now everything I do in my life, my professional life, my personal life, everything's on the Internet. And so now identity theft protection means the world to me and my family. And I'm the resident techie millennial here. So I've been on the Internet since before it existed, and I've actually had my identity stolen before. Before. But good news. We both have identity theft protection from Xander. They monitor our personal info on hundreds of thousands of databases, and they alert us of any suspicious activity. And that's everything from Social Security number activity to home title monitoring and more. So the key is, identity theft does happen, unfortunately. But if it happens, Xander handles everything up to $2 million in stolen funds, protection and white glove service to restore your life back to normal. I don't understand how the Internet's work. I don't understand what's going on in this little cyber y world. And that's why I'm so grateful for Xander. They've got me and my family's back. They've got you and your family's back. And it gives me one less thing to worry about, one less thing to be anxious about. And it lets me be a dad that sleeps at night. Yes. And all you got to do is go to Zander.com or call 800-356-4282 to protect your family with the most complete ID theft protection available. That's Zander.com.

[Dave Ramsey]

So when it comes to cultural phenomena, phenomenon like things that are popular on television and things like that, you know, there's a whole curve you can look at on anything out there. There's early adopters, the people that are the first to the party. There's the early majority, the late majority. The last to the party on these things is called the laggards. And when it comes to cultural icon things like what's popular on television, since I don't watch television much, I'm definitely a laggard. Like, I it. I was several years behind before I lost my man card watching Downton Abbey. All my friends had already lost their man card watching Downton Abbey. It was already a thing of the past by the time I got there.

[Jasmine]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

But I watched them all. I watched them all. I was just a laggard. I just got there very, very late. And so I distinctly remember in around the year 2000 when MTV was failing and they started, no one was watching music videos anymore, so they started putting on some teenagers on a thing they called a reality show. Just following teenagers around, being teenagers. And the second show I think they ever put out, everybody started talking about it. And I was the last of the party and I was a laggard and I turned it on. And this hardcore rock star is just debilitated by his former drug use. Ozzy Osbourne. And he's screaming through the house at his wife Sharon. Sharon. And that's the only thing I remember about the first reality TV shows. And Ozzy just. We just heard. He just passed away. Yeah. So God rest his name, 76 years old. Did you.

[Jasmine]

Did you take that and start doing that to Sharon in your house with the accent?

[Dave Ramsey]

No, no. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Never used the intercom system. No, No, I never. No, I was Afraid to, because I would pray the reaction. I would.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jasmine]

I was gonna say I know her and I don't know.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, you know, that's. It's a difference. And you know, the English hillbilly accent to bet together just doesn't work actually, though. But sad to hear Ozzy's passing. Yeah, he's. He's iconic.

[Jasmine]

Absolutely.

[Dave Ramsey]

One of his contemporaries had moved to Nashville a few years ago. We got to know him immediately. Yeah. And Meatloaf was a fun guy. He was a character and got to know him, spend all time with him. Never met Ozzy, but Meatloaf passed away in 2020 and really miss him. But an incredible dude is a lot of fun. So that. That era of those guys and gals, they are. They're special. And especially for an old dude like me, I mean, that's pretty cool.

[Jasmine]

I got mama, I'm coming home in my head right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

There you go. There it is. All right. Zach is in Philadelphia. Hey, Zach. What's up?

[Ken Coleman]

How you doing, sir? Not bad. How about you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. How can I help?

[Ken Coleman]

So, first of all, thank you for taking my call, sir. And I listened to you for a while, but unfortunately, over the last couple of years, made a few bad financial choices and had.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, you weren't listening. You were just listening. Yeah. Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

I got myself out of debt the first time using. Using your guys.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, you really did? Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

I did. Yep, I did. And then I went to the military. Had some crazy things happen, including getting in a big car wreck with someone that wasn't insured. So I kind of racked up some debt there in addition to student loans, things like that. So I'm just looking for your advice on.

[Dave Ramsey]

So how much debt have you got now, huh?

[Ken Coleman]

About $250,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yo.

[Ken Coleman]

Yep, a lot.

[Dave Ramsey]

What? How much of that?

[Ken Coleman]

Student loans, about 190,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Are you a doctor or a lawyer?

[Ken Coleman]

I have a master's degree, so my undergraduates in architecture and economics, and I.

[Jasmine]

Have a master's in real estate development.

[Dave Ramsey]

For what? Oh, my God. What are you doing for a living?

[Ken Coleman]

So like I said, I just got out of the Marine Corps. I was an officer looking at going back in, but I am in real estate development now, so I. I develop real estate on the side.

[Jasmine]

Okay, so these degrees were pre military, correct?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

She'd been hanging around with this stuff. Why? Well, thank you for your service to the country, hun. How old are you?

[Ken Coleman]

I'm 26.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Well, I mean, it's a. You already know the formula man, you've done it before. It's just got a lot more zeros on it this time, right?

[Ken Coleman]

It's got a lot more zeros.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yes, sir. Yeah. And so it's income minus outgo. Get the income up and the outgo down and throw everything at the debt. Are you single?

[Ken Coleman]

Yep. Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, what will you make this year in your real estate development world?

[Ken Coleman]

About 95,000.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. And you're single?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. And so you're living on, I don't know, beans and rice. Rice and beans. And how much are we going to throw? 60,000 at this.

[Ken Coleman]

At least, sir. So, I mean, I just got out of the military. I'm back living with my folks. I have pretty much no, I don't pay any rent. I don't really have my work pays for food. So most of that money I can throw towards the debt. I have $25,000 in liquidity.

[Dave Ramsey]

Good. Let's just throw everything at the debt. Throw everything at the debt. Throw everything at the debt and you know, do everything you can to increase your income without doing something stupid. Stupid and irrational to get you into a bigger mess of some kind. Real estate will do that in a heartbeat. But let's just keep, keep rolling with the income and, you know, sounds like it's going to take you three years unless something changes on the income dramatically, doesn't it?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir. I mean, I'm projected to make probably 150 next year because I just started. But I'm just wondering, the actual APRs on these on his debt is relatively low, so. So do I start putting some money in CDs to beat the, you know, beat the APR on. You know, my, my personal loans are at 2.9%. They're specific for military.

[Dave Ramsey]

Honey, we're not trying to make a spread. We're trying to live.

[Ken Coleman]

Sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

You, you've created a dead gum mess. You can clean up the mess. Quit trying to do math. The only math you need to do is how much I can throw at this debt. There's no, there's no trick bag to get you out of this. The trick bag is you go make a pile of money and you throw a pile of money at your big old mess.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's how you do it. I mean, it's really not. There's, you know, you need to put your MBA calculator up and just go, go. How much money can I make and how much can I not spend? And throw. Thus, throw out everything at this. And there's no tricking out of this, if you start trying to trick out this, that's where you're going to get yourself more broke. Okay, no, let's just say how. How fast can I do this? How deep can I sacrifice? How singularly focused can I become? And that is the answer to your equation.

[Jasmine]

Yeah, I mean, the only thing I can say is you're young enough that you can dig out of this. It's not going to be fun, but, I mean, work like there's no tomorrow. I'd be taking on two and three jobs and stroke that check tonight.

[Dave Ramsey]

What?

[Jasmine]

Dave said that you have 25,000 in liquid cash tonight. I mean, follow the baby steps. So 23 of that or 24 of that is immediately today. You need some momentum today, today.

[Dave Ramsey]

Shock your system and get, you know, start writing out your plan. You know how to run spreadsheets? Run them, run your spreadsheet out, get on every dollar, download the app, start to run out. Okay, what's my debt free date If I make 90 and then I make 150. And what else can I do without getting myself further in debt to get out of this debt? So. And then the last thing you need to do in this thing, Zach, is you need to analyze what broke in your brain because your brain was working and then it quit working. And what happened? What caused your brain to break? I had to do the same thing when I went broke and lost everything. Okay. What was wrong with my theory? I had to do an autopsy, bring in CSI and do an autopsy on the patient because the patient was a moron in my case. And I want to go, okay, I don't want to be a moron anymore, so I need to stop doing that.

[Jasmine]

This.

[Dave Ramsey]

What. What was. What did I. What did you. What things did you believe that were wrong?

[Jasmine]

You nailed it. In his case, he believed that a master's degree would make him so much more money in the field that he's in. And it's not going to. You call that out immediately? 190 of the 250 is degree related.

[Dave Ramsey]

I know real estate developers all over America. The number of them that have a master's degree in real estate development is precisely zero.

[Jasmine]

Right?

[Dave Ramsey]

Of the ones that I know, it is not a requirement to do that world.

[Jasmine]

And he swallowed a broken, incorrect cultural message that an MBA is going to automatically put you in a different tax bracket. And that's just a bunch of garbage.

[Dave Ramsey]

Boys and girls, the secret sauce to your success is in your mirror. It is not on a college campus, it's not in a trade school. It's not your mama's advice. It's in your mirror. You get off your butt, you leave the cave, you kill something, you drag it home. If you want a sharper axe, then go get a little education, that's fine. But quit looking to education to be your success. Your success is in your mirror. It's your get them, get them. That's where success comes from.

[Ken Coleman]

SAM.

[Dave Ramsey]

The Ramsey Show Question of the day is brought to you by why Refi? When the payment on your defaulted private student loan is as much as some mortgages, it's hard to get ahead. That's when why refi can help refinancing to a low fixed rate loan built just for you. Find out [e-mail] Ramsey that's the letter y r e f y.com Ramsey might not be in all states.

[Jasmine]

Today's question comes from Colin in Arizona. How do you know when it's time to leave a business that you help sell Start? I earn 500,000 a year, but the toll on my mental and emotional health is substantial. Considering my persistent feeling of disrespect from the other owners, the income has become irrelevant. The business brings in around 3 million a year. Despite this, there are no regular meetings, no formal policies and very little collaboration between owners. Most decisions are made by a gentleman's agreement and when I raise concern, I'm told, don't rock the boat. I want to grow the business. But the other owners have an attitude of working on business doesn't generate revenue. My only debt is 350,000 on our mortgage, which we could probably pay off if my partners buy out my shares. At what point is walking away the right thing to do? Feels like Colin, you've reached that point. You know, look, this is a situation where I don't see an end to this. This is going to be a consistent frustration and this does have an impact on you mentally and emotionally. When you've got a three headed cow here at the ownership and this is sticky, it's gross. And if you can get the other owners to buy you out, it feels like the time is right. Pay off the house. Sounds like you're entrepreneurial. Refocus and I think this is the right thing. Based on what I know here. This doesn't feel like this is going to get any better.

[Dave Ramsey]

There's two reasons that you need to be bought out immediately. One is you're miserable and you're done. Two is the misbehavior of the business operations are going to cause the failure of the business and you're going to ride the horse till it dies. And it's going to die. The DNA change of death is already in the workings of this business. The things that they are not doing, like operating the business well, are going to cause the failure of the business. Their lack of character in the way they disrespect and treat another owner is going to be one of the things that. That lack of character, that is one of the ways it manifests itself in the way they treat you. That doesn't mean. That means to me that you're not the only one that gets treated that way. The team and the talent gets treated that way. The customers and the vendors get treated that way. These guys are butterfly holes. And this is why partnerships are the only ship that won't sail is this right here. And this will cause the end of the business. So you cannot be under the illusion that this is a perpetual $500,000 a year income. It is not. It's going to fail. I don't know when exactly. It might be five months, it might be five years. But the probability of this being your income from this business if you stuck around miserable for an extended period of time is precisely zero. Zero. That's the second reason that you get out, because you're. Don't be under the illusion you can't compare your decision to, ooh, I walked away from half million dollars. You didn't. Because there's not going to be half million dollars right now. It is. And so as they say in Tennessee, as we say in Tennessee, get out while the getting's good. This be the time, brother. I'm going to run, my hair's on fire. And next time you get ready to be in a pardon partnership, don't. And this right here is the reason Heather is with us. Heather is in Orlando. Hi, Heather, how are you?

[Ken Coleman]

Good. Thank you for taking my call, gentlemen.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sure. What's up?

[Ken Coleman]

I am only child of a mother who was just diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia. Prior to that, I got healthcare surrogate. Thank you. You. Prior to that, I got healthcare surrogate and poa. Someone told me to have our quick claim deed the house and I did because it was paid off.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why?

[Ken Coleman]

I know. I didn't, I didn't. I kind of panicked before the diagnosis came.

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, you have a power of attorney. You don't need to quit claim the house.

[Ken Coleman]

Oh, I understand.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right, so anyway, what. So you got power of attorney and how old is your mom?

[Ken Coleman]

Your mom, hun, she's 73.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's her name. What's her name?

[Ken Coleman]

Judy.

[Dave Ramsey]

Judy. Okay. And your dad's gone.

[Ken Coleman]

They're divorced.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

She was single.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

And her house was paid off. I am a widow of a va, so I have VA benefits. So I am able to transfer over my. Or VA benefited on her taxes now. So I would get the widow and the homestead.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, on the property taxes?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

I see. All right.

[Ken Coleman]

But I'm finding all of these. I'm overwhelmed with all of the. Sorry. Disney stocks and Merrill lynch and computer. They like all these different ones. Some were inherited by my grandfather when he passed.

[Dave Ramsey]

So she has. She has some investments that you don't understand.

[Ken Coleman]

A bunch of them, like from different companies.

[Dave Ramsey]

Who has been managing those? Does she have a financial planner?

[Ken Coleman]

She just has Merrill lynch and then these companies that are holding these stocks. She originally started at Disney, so she has Disney and Penn State Oil and just like so many. Many.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. But you have documentation on all of it?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I gathered a bunch, as much as I can. Mary lynch suggested that I do a state attorney to tell me what to do with all these.

[Dave Ramsey]

You have any idea what the value of all of that is?

[Ken Coleman]

I know just alone the Merrill lynch with the retirement and those stocks is 500.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. All right, good. Well, an estate planning attorney. Estate planning attorney would be a good thing, but it does. It's not going to help you with what your problem is. Your problem is you feel overwhelmed and inadequate because you don't understand all of these investments. And that's not bad. It just means you're human.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Estate planning attorney didn't help you with that.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

So what you need is someone in your corner with the heart of a team teacher. And if the folks at Merrill lynch are not able to teach you what this stuff is and get you comfortable with it. And it sounds like that their only thing they've thrown at you so far is just getting a lawyer. But that's not the answer to the equation. The answer is you need someone in your corner that teaches you how to manage this. Well, for your mother. And I assume you're the sole heir.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. And so for your mother and really, ultimately you are managing this for you because she probably won't need this. This money.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir. And I need to add on a mother in law suite. Her house is paid off. But I didn't. A home. Home equity loan or a VA loan.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, you don't. If you've got a half a million dollars, you're not going to go borrow money to do this.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

You're going to use her money to add on anything that needs to be added on.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. Because I was confused by the Mary lynch lady when she said, oh, if you cash out before she passes, if it's worth $10, you only you pay taxes on adult 9 of it. And if she wait till after she passes, then you get 11.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's called a stepped up basis. That's right. She was right about that. But that doesn't matter. We're not cashing the whole thing out. We're just going to cash out enough to do whatever it need to take care of your mom's physical needs at your home.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I'm so overwhelmed I would spend.

[Dave Ramsey]

That as a minimal amount. Okay, so the best way to become come to do away with being overwhelmed always is to take a big problem and break it down into little problems.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, sir.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so how many little problems do we have here? Well, every one of those accounts is a little problem until I understand it. Getting a bid on and paying cash for the least work we can do to our home to take care of mom. I do not want you spending $100,000 adding a wing on your, your house. Don't do that. Okay. For a 73 year old with a dementia diagnosis. So, no, we're going to spend the minimal amount, we're going to take care of mom. We're not putting her out in the backyard in a doghouse or something. We're going to take care of her, but we're also not going to build the Taj Mahal on the end of your house. So you need to have some basic information on those things. I would recommend that you, you get someone else in your corner. Go to ramseysolutions.com and click on SmartVestor Pro. And get one of these SmartVestor Pros that's got the heart of a teacher to sit down with you and begin to unpack this and sit there with someone with the teaching heart until you understand what's going on. It may take you a little bit, that's okay. But that's now your new job. You need to learn how to manage this half million dollars. And you can do it. It's not hard, but you need somebody to help you with with it.

[Jasmine]

Hey, guys. George Camel here with some exciting news for our Financial Peace University coordinators. If you've ever led FPU or even just thought about it, you've got to join us for our coordinator rally happening on July 24th. It's packed with insider updates, powerful stories and Encouragement from me, Jade Warshaw and Dr. John DeLoney. It's totally free and when you register you'll be entered to win our three thousand dollar giveaway. So just head to fpu.com rally to save your spot today. That's fpu.com rally.

[Dave Ramsey]

Live from the headquarters of Ramsey Solutions, it's the Ramsey show where we help people build wealth, do work that they love and create actual amazing relationships. I'm Dave Ramsey, your host. Thank you for joining us, America. Open phones at 888-25-5225. Ken Coleman is my co host, Ramsey personality number one best selling authority and host of a brand new hit on Ramsey Network called Front Row Seat. Be sure and check that out, particularly this week's version that we just dropped. It's excellent. All right. Lisa is with us in Jacksonville, Florida. Hi Lisa, how are you?

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. Thank you for letting me call you.

[Dave Ramsey]

Sure. How can we help?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I thought I was doing work that I loved and I thought I was locked in until I got to my full retirement age. But I was. The company that I work for did a layoff. And so now I find myself 64 years old and not quite ready to retire, but needing to look at it as a possibility. And I don't know what my next steps need to be.

[Jasmine]

What did you do? What was your field and title and all that jazz?

[Ken Coleman]

I was an editor and had been doing it. I've been doing that for, well, off and on for many years.

[Jasmine]

What type of editing?

[Ken Coleman]

I was a specialty editor. I worked on directories for professional and trade organizations. So it was part technical writing and part journalism. But I've done both of those in my life. So it's, I, I enjoyed the work.

[Jasmine]

But it's done now, so not necessarily so. One of the things, first of all, this is the kind of thing that just knocks you kind of off kilter. And there's a lot of emotional stuff with all that. One of the things in the days ahead that you want to really make sure that you focus on is how much skill you've developed and how transferable that writing experience is. You've got multiple different types of writing disciplines that you can prove and the skill of editing, you know, really play that out and go, what, what does it take if you don't have to answer this air for sake of time. But if I were to ask you tell me the skills involved in being a good editor and you would answer that, and that's a good exercise to write that out because what, what's important right now is you have to continue to work. Correct. Is that what I'm getting?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I was planning to, but.

[Jasmine]

Well, that's different than. Do you have to work?

[Ken Coleman]

I'm not sure yet.

[Jasmine]

All right, give us the, give us the rundown on your numbers and we'll come back to the work part.

[Dave Ramsey]

How much is in your nest egg?

[Ken Coleman]

I have about 80,000 in my nest egg and then I have about another 16,000 that I have saved in my current or my most recent company's retirement program. So I'll roll that into the other savings that I have.

[Dave Ramsey]

Good.

[Ken Coleman]

And I was. My baby steps are a little bit out of order, but I have about, just about 9,000, a little over 9,000 in consumer debt. I own a home, I have about 70,000 left on my mortgage and I think a part time job is completely reasonable, but I'm not in a position to relocate.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think you're looking for a full time time job. You don't have a very big nest egg. You've still got $70,000 in debt on your house and you don't have a, you know, you're not telling me you got some kind of $20,000 a month pension coming in or something like that. So it sounds to me like you're still working probably at least till you're 70. And so, yeah, you're looking for another, another move in your career. So back to Ken then, you know, here's proximity principle.

[Jasmine]

That's right. And so if I were you, I am reaching out to everybody I know to tell them that you're a free agent. I would try to get as much freelance stuff as I could right away. And this is for momentum sake. Right. So you absolutely do need a full time job. But in the interim tonight, like when you get off the phone call, we're looking for some freelance writing projects or editing projects. You scour the Internet. If you don't know how to do it, you know somebody that's in their 20s and they'll show you and you're looking at everything available and you're focusing on your experience and what you've done. And you have an impressive resume. That's the first thing. Let's get as much work as we can right away while we're looking for the full time job. And for you at this stage, you're going to have to look outside of this lane that you've been in because it's very unsettling to be at a company for so long and then all of a sudden I'm out and so you're looking at any kind of writing gig that you can get or a job where you're editing and you've got experience and that's what you're leading with. I'm a good locker room presence. You know, tell the story. Don't be ashamed of being laid off. This happens at large companies. Own that narrative. Confidence up. And I'd like to give you my best selling book, the Proximity Principle. This is going to walk you through in a really plain spoken way. What are my next moves to connect with people so that opportunities knock on my door. So hang on the line and Kelly.

[Dave Ramsey]

Will get you the proximity principal Tony's in Denver. Hey Tony, what's up?

[Ken Coleman]

Thank you for taking my call. So I'm currently in a. I have my property at 2.75% and I am looking at refinancing at 6.9%. However, I'm doing it as an investment. I'm trying to build a shop in my backyard. I already have a renter lined up for $2,000 a month, but I need $100,000 in order to build it. Is it smart to adjust my mortgage rate point in time?

[Dave Ramsey]

It is not smart to buy, to borrow money to build a shop in the backyard.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay.

[Dave Ramsey]

I don't teach, we don't teach people to borrow money for investing.

[Ken Coleman]

Okay. Now the other thing is, is I do have a rental property that I'm currently getting income from. What would you suggest in order for me to build that hundred thousand to invest in that and building a profit? A shop.

[Jasmine]

Why do you need $100,000 shop? Maybe make the case for that. Really?

[Dave Ramsey]

He's renting it for $2,000 a month.

[Jasmine]

Yeah, but there's more to it than that, isn't there?

[Ken Coleman]

Well, I want to build this mechanic shop. It's going to have lifts in there and all this and get the electricity, the plumbing, all that, between 60 to 100,000.

[Jasmine]

Yeah, but what's the end ROI on all that investment? What do you hope to do with that equipment?

[Ken Coleman]

I hope to utilize it, to just rent it as a shop and use it as income.

[Jasmine]

Okay, so you personally aren't going to use it for your business. You just want to get it to some mechanic?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, I actually have a buddy whose shop they raise the rates and he's looking at building some and he wanted to sign a contract with me for about five or ten year lease.

[Jasmine]

Okay. I wanted to get the rest of the story. I don't think this is a good idea at all.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's a bad idea. On multiple fronts. Number one, I don't borrow money to do investing. Number two, I don't borrow money to do investing to take care of my buddy's problem. Number three, I don't build a shop on the back of my property that there's only one possible tenant for.

[Jasmine]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

If this guy goes sideways, gets in a car wreck, or gets his nose down in some cocaine, you now have an empty shop shop with a bunch of crap in it in the back of your property. You can't rent. And guess what? Life happens. And it sounds a lot like that stuff. So no, no, I'll pass on the whole thing. Even if I had 100k cash, I'd pass on this one. Wow. Dave's a dream killer. No, Dave's a nightmare killer. I see nightmares where other people see dreams.

[Jasmine]

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[Dave Ramsey]

If you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck and feeling like you can't get ahead, join one of our Every Dollar trainings. These are new trainings every week this month, and they're all hosted by one of the Ramsey personalities. We're going to show you how to stick to a budget and even find $9,000 of margin. That's the average. Some people get more using every dollar so you can get out of debt, start building wealth. Plus, you can ask questions live. During the live Q and A. Sign up for [e-mail] webinar Maria is with us in West Palm Beach, Florida. Hi, Maria. How are you?

[Ken Coleman]

Hi, Dave. I'm good. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[Ken Coleman]

Yes. So a little context. I'm married with two little kids and I work in my dad's company. On paper, I'm the cfo, but really I just hand bookkeeping and admin work. I did inherit a small ownership share from my grandfather. When he passed away, the business was doing 12 to 15 million dollars. During the COVID boom. But the sales have dropped back to pre Covid levels, which is about 7 to 10 million. And over the last two years, we've lost about $1.5 million, and we're carrying a million dollars in debt. I personally taking a 50% pay reduction to help with costs. But fortunately, my husband got a raise and I started my own bookkeeping business on the side. And together that's replaced what I lost. So personally, we're doing fine. Financially. The company feels like it's failing, but my dad won't take my advice or make the hard changes. I feel like I should focus on growing my own business because I'm afraid if the company fails, I'll lose the other half of my income too. At the same time, though, I feel guilty stepping back because this was supposed to be his retirement. And so many families and friends work here. And with two little kids, my time is already stretched in. So my question is, do I step back and focus on building something I can control or keep pouring myself into the family business even though it feels like it's a sinking ship?

[Dave Ramsey]

Pre Covid, it was making $7 million and making a profit.

[Ken Coleman]

That's correct, yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

So why making $7 million post Covid? Is it not making a profit?

[Ken Coleman]

Advertising is one of the biggest expenses that we just seem to not be able to get. It's something that seems like it has changed drastically in the past two years.

[Dave Ramsey]

You talk about paid media online.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. It's gone through the roof.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

And you guys have not adjusted your media sources and continue to spend like you. So he's spending money even though he knows he's losing money?

[Ken Coleman]

That's correct, yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

Why? What does he say?

[Ken Coleman]

It's worked for so long, he doesn't see why it should. Why it's not gonna work now.

[Dave Ramsey]

Kind of thing costs four times as much. That's why it doesn't work now.

[Ken Coleman]

That's correct. I 100% agree with you on that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Pretty simple thing. There's no ROI or as we say in that world, no ROAs. So, I mean, I just had a conversation at Ramsey this week about this. I hate the freaking paid media.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

It's a crack addiction because it works and it costs a lot. And then they. What do they do? They come in, they quadruple our costs since COVID And so I'm getting out of the business. I can't stand it. Pisses me off every time I write one of those checks to those people. So we're moving away from it as fast as we can finding other sources for our customers. But yeah, but no, it's. The landscape has changed. So to act like it's always worked so it will always work is. That's a ludicrous statement. I mean, if you were buying cars and reselling them and all of a sudden the cost of the car went up 4x, you wouldn't say, well, it's always worked before. That's a dumb butt statement.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, I full heartily agree with that.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. So how old are you?

[Ken Coleman]

I'm 30.

[Dave Ramsey]

So your dad's 60?

[Ken Coleman]

That's correct.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. He started.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, he did.

[Dave Ramsey]

What kind of business is it?

[Ken Coleman]

Outdoor teak furniture.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. And your location doesn't have high traffic count, so you are a destination site. That's why you're buying your customers.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes, that's correct. We're pretty much fully online.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, the. The needle is moved. Our cheese got moved. Remember the old book? Who moved my cheese?

[Jasmine]

Spencer Johnson.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, that's the one. And I'll be out scurrying around looking for my dad. Gum, cheese. Yeah.

[Jasmine]

What would just. I'm going to ask a hypothetical here. What would dad do if you quit today? How would he handle that? What would he do?

[Ken Coleman]

He would not be okay with that. I do handle. I'm the only one in the company who handles pretty much all anything admin.

[Jasmine]

Right.

[Ken Coleman]

And he's completely stepped away, you know, in Covid time. He was planning for retirement. Right. So he kind of stepped away a lot of his duties.

[Jasmine]

Right. Second class.

[Dave Ramsey]

Who's running the business? You.

[Ken Coleman]

She is not necessarily my uncle. I would say he's doing all the sales and marketing and we honestly just did a huge layoff.

[Jasmine]

So have you had a really. So let me ask this.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. You've thrown some darts, but you've not dropped a grenade in the middle of this yet.

[Jasmine]

No. But have you had the hard conversation with dad?

[Dave Ramsey]

Not yet.

[Ken Coleman]

Not yet. No.

[Jasmine]

Okay. You gotta do that, number one.

[Dave Ramsey]

So I think you sit down with your uncle and your dad and say, guys, we're going broke and I do not intend to ride a horse until it dies. This horse is dying. So you guys have got to change directions here for this business to survive. Otherwise none of us are going to have a job and I'm not going to ride the horse until it dies. So we need to come to some agreement about the spending here and the spending that's not working because other companies that are online have adjusted their media storage spend to become profitable and they adjusted their media spend down ours is down $20 million at Ramsey because of. They've been screwing us. And that's what the same thing they're doing to you. Okay? And I start naming these companies names, but some of them are broadcasting the show. So that's what it comes down to. So that's what you're dealing with are these platforms. Platforms. And so you and your dad and your uncle have to sit down and devise a business strategy in today's environment, not yesterday's environment, that is profitable and that we can all agree to. And boys, if you're not gonna do this, you're gonna be doing it on your own. You don't have to be mean or threatening, but it's just, we are losing a million dollars. We can't keep doing that. That's not sustainable. Sustainable. None of us are going to have a job. I'm not going to sit here and watch this happen. I love you both, you, uncle and dad. And I'd like to stay here and fight with you, But I have to believe in the strategy that we're using to fight this war. And right now we're fighting what's known as a losing battle.

[Ken Coleman]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

And stop it. And so I think you're going to have to have that conversation. And it's not threatening, like, don't want to fit, like, I'm going to quit if y' all don't behave. It's. We have a business problem. You all aren't addressing it. And no one's going to continue to work here because no one's going to have them. You're not going the money to pay payroll.

[Ken Coleman]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

We're going to go broke. I mean, you can't make. You can't lose a million dollars a year but for so long. Agreed?

[Ken Coleman]

Agreed. Yeah. And it's been two years this year. Not looking good either.

[Dave Ramsey]

Exactly. So wake up and smell the coffee, boys. Something's got change.

[Jasmine]

And the only thing I would add to what Dave said, he's spot on. I. I would add to them just so it doesn't feel like a threat, because there's going to be an emotional reaction to this is what I gather just this conversation. I would say, listen, if it, if I, if it. If you guys don't agree with me and you want to move on without me, I got to move on. Here's one thing I'm going to do. I'm going to find my replacement. You're going to need somebody to do what you're doing, and I think you do need.

[Dave Ramsey]

If you want me to help you find and train the replacement. I'm willing to do that. I'm not mad at you.

[Jasmine]

That's right.

[Dave Ramsey]

But I'm just see that I'm reading the tea leaves and y' all aren't even looking at the tea and I'm the one sitting there looking the numbers. Boys, we can't. Can you can't. You know, you can't lose a quarter watermelon and get a bigger truck. It doesn't work right. It's pretty basic business stuff here. So. Yeah, I'm sorry, hon. That's pretty standard stuff. But your dad is, is living in 2018 and 2019 emotionally and he wishes he could go back there. And this is his wake up call that he can't. I'm afraid old Dave has to face those things from time to time too. It's getting old things a pain in the butt. This is the Ramsey show.

[Jasmine]

Does having more money and less stress sound nice but feel impossible? Well, in my brand new book, Breaking Free from Broke, I share my story of going from broke to millionaire and exactly how I did it. You'll learn about the money traps and cultural lies out there designed to keep you brainwashed and stressed out. From credit card schemes to mortgage myths to investing traps. So if you're not where you want to be financially, I can help you finally get ahead. You can get breaking free from broke [e-mail] store. That's ramseysolutions.com store.

[Dave Ramsey]

In the lobby of Ramsey Solutions on the debt free stage. Lowry and Stephanie are with us. Hey guys, how are you? Hey.

[Jasmine]

Good. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. Welcome. Where do you guys live? We live in Hayes, North Carolina. Okay, welcome to Nashville. And what's Hayes near?

[Jasmine]

It's about halfway in between Boone and Winston Salem.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, beautiful area. Okay, very nice. And how much debt have you got guys paid off?

[Jasmine]

We've gotten a little over 700,000, I believe.

[Dave Ramsey]

What?

[Jasmine]

710.

[Dave Ramsey]

Whoa. How long did this take? Eight years. Eight years. And your range of income during that.

[Jasmine]

Time went from about 100 to 180.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, cool. What do y' all do for a living?

[Jasmine]

I'm a nurse.

[Dave Ramsey]

Nurses? Both of you?

[Jasmine]

Yep.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. Wow. Very cool. So I'm guessing with eight years and seven, 10, maybe you guys paid off the house. Yeah, absolutely. Paid the house off. Looking at weird people. Congratulations. So how old are you two? 44. Lowry will be 44 next week. All right, very fun. And a paid for home. What's the home worth?

[Jasmine]

It's about 250.

[Dave Ramsey]

Excellent. Very cool. So 250,000 of 710. Oh, nursing degrees. Well, we had a lot in the. There. That's like her.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

How much of the 710 was the mortgage? Well, the first mortgage we paid off was about 350. So in this process, we started in a house that was much too large for us, and the mortgage was too big for us to pay. So we paid that or sold that house. Paid off lots of other things.

[Jasmine]

We had our two other houses, too. My old house, her old house, all.

[Dave Ramsey]

That stuff, and the one that was too expensive and the one that was too expensive. And you sold all three?

[Jasmine]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yes. Whoa. So that's a lot of the 710. Correct. Okay. And now you're in a house you can afford. Yes. And is it paid for?

[Jasmine]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, wow. Okay. So it worked out. Yes. Once you decide to not play Real estate monopoly.

[Jasmine]

Correct.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. All right, I got you. Good deal. So tell me the story. What happened eight years ago? How long have y' all been married? 14 years. Okay. So six years into marriage, we got three houses and stuff we can't afford. Life's not fun. What happened? We had decided at the end of 2016 to find a financial peace class. Lowry had heard about you and heard about the class, and he said, I want you to find a class, and I want to sign up.

[Jasmine]

We were having just so many challenges, paycheck to paycheck, all the classic stuff. She's looking at me like, why haven't you paid this bill yet? Well, we get paid in a couple days. I'll pay it then. You know, that kind of thing. So just week to week, the fights, the disagreements, that was getting pretty intense, and it was just a realization that something had to change.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, something had to change. So we started finding financial peace in February of 2017. And it took us about three weeks into the class for us to just look at one another and say, how can the two of us be so educated and so stupid? So that's funny. Yeah.

[Jasmine]

What's funnier is Lowry's face, because she just laid it out there, and he was kind of like, yeah, yeah, we were.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, we. We became Gazelle Intense. We sold everything that we could possibly sell. We sold two rental homes, a truck, a camper. We paid off student loans. We paid off probably seven credit cards, seven credit cards. We. How much student loan debt was there? About 60,000. Not that wasn't it then. Okay. Credit cards. How many credit card. How much credit card debt was there? Probably close to 40. 40. Yeah. Okay. So it was really just you all were disorganized and you're normal. You had normal debts, very normal, normal credit card debt, normal student loan debt, bought a couple rental houses or kept them instead of selling them, bought a house you couldn't afford. And so you're just asleep at the wheel and you look up and go, okay, we're gonna try driving now. And all of a sudden the fights turn into celebrations as everything starts selling. Correct? Yeah. So we were consumer debt debt free by the end of 2018. One year.

[Jasmine]

Yeah, almost two years. Because February 17th when we started. So December of 18, consumer debt was handled. The excess mortgages were gone. We just had our primary house.

[Dave Ramsey]

Did you decide in the initial swath to sell it or did sell it? Was selling it the seller second stage? That was probably about seven months into the process where we were like, this is also a problem.

[Jasmine]

This is also a problem. And we're looking at the numbers and we realized we were well over 25% and we were feeling it still. And it was just time wise was just, it just made no sense whatsoever.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. My dad used to say recognizing there is a problem is 90% of solving it. And so that day when you came home and looked at her and said, I'm gonna find a financial peace class. I'm done, I'm over this, I've had it. And she's like, finally. And then we go to class and you instantaneously got aligned, didn't you?

[Jasmine]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's pretty amazing. I was confused. On the way to class, we only have like maybe a 10 minute drive to class. And the first time that we drove on the way, he was like, I think they're going to tell us that we need to cut our credit cards up. And I said, why on earth would they take tell us that? Why would we do that? And then we got a couple of classes in and I was like, oh, oh, I understand this now. Yeah, yeah. So but I mean, you guys got aligned within three or four weeks.

[Jasmine]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

And for the first time, really in six or seven years. Absolutely. And then once you got aligned, it was like boom. Yeah. Execute, Execute, execute, execute. I mean, because you guys are used to coming up with a treatment plan as nurses and then follow the treatment plan, the patient gets well most of the time. Hello. And so you just, you use your same training, but just use your, the way your brains work, but in a different setting, in a different compartment and department.

[Jasmine]

Yeah. I have a follow up to what Dave just pointed out and asked. So Once you got on the same page about what you needed to do the baby steps, did the tension. Even though you were still in the debt, did the tension that was causing the fight, did that subside? Absolutely. See, that's a key point I want couples to hear. Tell us why you think that happens.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think that the tension that we had between one another, we focused on the problem. We put intention on the problem and started focusing on that instead of what he and I were doing wrong.

[Jasmine]

Me, too. We developed a plan together. We were able to actually work together towards that specific goal, and that expanded to everything else. So the take home, raise the kids. Yeah, whatever. Okay. I just want to make sure. I just got this thought. It's. You took it to intention, and that relieved all of the tension because it was just. Now we have a way out. You didn't have a way out before. That's great. I just hope couples hear that. That's why this plan works so well.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's why so many times over the years, people in the past would come up and they go, you saved our marriage. I'm like, you went to the wrong class. Sex class was down the hall. I mean, but they're like, no. They're like, no. This is. You know, we've been. We've been going to marriage counselors and couldn't figure out how to be together. And that's. Right. And all of a sudden, when you have a common goal and the enemy is outside the house, the villain is no longer inside the house. It changes everything. And once you learn to fight together, like you said, towards a goal, then that applies to everything else, like raising kids. It applies to every other. The department compartment in your. In your life. Yeah. So way to go, y'.

[Ken Coleman]

All.

[Dave Ramsey]

I'm so proud of you. Thanks. Who was cheering you on? Well, in the beginning, I'll just say there was a lot of people that thought we were crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah.

[Jasmine]

We mostly had help from people who took FPU with us and the coordinators at that class.

[Dave Ramsey]

And what church was that? Triad Baptist in Kernersville, North Carolina. Okay. Thanks, guys, for teaching that class. Within the last three years, we have been able to host financial peace at our church. Oh, wow. And we've amassed a good, close group of friends who have been very supportive. Very good. What church is that? Fair Plains Baptist in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Wonderful. All right, bring the kiddos up to do the debt free scream. Tell us their ages and names. Okay, this is Lawson, and he's 13. And this is Selma, and she's 11 and they survived this. Selma has never known life without Dave. We used to drive around in the car together and listen to your show in Debt Free Scream. Is this going to be debt free Scream here. Selma, I'm so sorry.

[Jasmine]

Oh, boy.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right. Lowry, Stephanie Lawson and Selma, North Carolina. 710,000 paid off. What a wonderful story. Eight years making 100 to 1 80. Sold everything in sight Got their lives back. Count it down. Let's hear a debt free scream. All right. Three, two, one.

[Jasmine]

We're debt free. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

What a cool couple. That's fun. Yeah. What about you? Yeah, I'm talking to you.

[Ken Coleman]

What about you, Sam?

[Dave Ramsey]

Our scripture today is 1st Peter 4:10. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. Henry Ford said, a business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. Oh, I agree. Folks, if anyone in your life depends on your income, you need life insurance. And we only recommend term life insurance. Life insurance has one job replace your income if you die. We never recommend any kind of investment insurance like whole life or permanent life. It tries to do two jobs at once and it does a bad job at both. You only need life insurance while someone depends on you financially. So if you're like most people, you need a policy worth 10 to 12 times your annual income for 10 or for 15 to 20, 20 year level term insurance. For more info and resources, use our Term Insurance Term Life Insurance guide, go to ramseysolutions.com term lifeguide or click the link in the description if you're listening on YouTube or podcast or just go to zanderinsurance.com Amelia is with us in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi Amelia, how are you?

[Ken Coleman]

Hi. I'm doing well. How are you?

[Dave Ramsey]

Better than I deserve. What's up?

[Ken Coleman]

I have a question on budgeting priority whenever you are in a long term rainy day period. A little bit of background. We purchased a house. We saved quite a bit of money up. We saved a total of 65,000 before we purchased our house back in February of last year. And we purchased the house and unfortunately we purchased it and the previous owner had completed renovations that did not meet code and caused immediate concerns to the house that we have now subsequently been fixing and are also being held to bring the house up to code because of the stuff that they. They did. Unfortunately.

[Dave Ramsey]

And did you have a home inspection?

[Ken Coleman]

We did and unfortunately. So we have gone through. We are in a lawsuit right now.

[Dave Ramsey]

Inspection and with the former owner.

[Ken Coleman]

Owner. The former owner. Fun Fact, the former owner was also the real estate agent, and they're a flipping company. And they are very. I mean, they're terrible people who are acting as general contractors and as a business and are just. They're continuing to do it at 14 other houses.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay, so how much money is this costing you out of pocket to fix this house up?

[Ken Coleman]

So far we have spent $86,856, and we have to go to complete everything. I've got estimates and we're slowly working our way. Total amount at the very end will be 154,900.

[Dave Ramsey]

What's this house worth?

[Ken Coleman]

Estimated 375 is what we purchased it for. We negotiated. It's saying right now that it's worth 410.

[Dave Ramsey]

As is.

[Ken Coleman]

As is. We can't sell it right now with its open permit. But if I were to sell it today. Bathroom's kind of gutted. So if I were to sell it today, we would probably get maybe three, eight.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. What's wrong with just selling it today? You can sell it with an open permit, by the way. It's just a cash sale. You can't. You can't get a. They can't get permanent mortgage on it, but an investor could buy it if you could get somebody to give you what you got in it, get out, get away from this thing.

[Ken Coleman]

And then we would lose the. Well, that's true. So we would just lose the money that we put it for the down payment and what we're currently at and what we've currently invested to try to bring.

[Dave Ramsey]

No, you said. You said you paid 380 and so. 375 and you get 380.

[Ken Coleman]

Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

So the down payment would be coming back to. The down payment we're coming back to. You don't lose that. But you would lose any additional money you put into it since you bought it, which so far is 80 grand.

[Ken Coleman]

86. Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

And then you got to put another 150 in it. So you're going to be upside down in the. This thing.

[Ken Coleman]

I'm sorry, another 72. So. 72.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, a total of 150.

[Ken Coleman]

Total of. Correct.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right, so let me see. 380. So 375. So you're going to have $525,000 in a house when you're done. That's worth what when you're done? 475.

[Ken Coleman]

Probably when we're done with everything. Because we're upgrading. Since we have to gut some stuff. We're upgrading a little Bit to add some more value. Like, for example, we're adding a bathroom room. So if. If we were to sell it with all the upgrades done, we could probably get around 450.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. So you're gonna lose. So you're gonna be $75,000 in the hole when you're done with this plan. Why is this a good plan?

[Ken Coleman]

The only reason we're kind of sticking with it was our lawyer with the lawsuit that we're going. And we're. We're suing them, I think, unfortunately.

[Dave Ramsey]

But the question is, are you gonna get anything even if you win the lawsuit? They're broke. Probably.

[Ken Coleman]

I hope not.

[Dave Ramsey]

Oh, they are.

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah. The good thing is we do have a guilty verdict already. Has been determined by the state fire marshal for the home inspector. So they have been found guilty for missing all of the.

[Dave Ramsey]

Okay. So are they. Are they writing a check?

[Ken Coleman]

We're not sure yet. The lawsuit is an umbrella. They're suing both the previous owner, the real estate company and the home inspector. So where the law. The lawyer is saying we need 150,000 or 154,000. I don't care who pays what. But that's what the number is. We need. That's what we need. And then let the three people that we're suing.

[Dave Ramsey]

So the light. The home inspector had State Farm insurance?

[Ken Coleman]

Yeah, maybe. I think so. Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

That's weird. Okay. All right. And that they've already agreed to settle at least part of it.

[Ken Coleman]

They have not agreed to what amount, but they have agreed that they have admitted a. Yes, there's an admission of guilt. Okay. Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

So they're gonna. They're gonna write a check of some kind. All right.

[Ken Coleman]

Exactly.

[Dave Ramsey]

All right. So you're gonna get some of this. So you're probably gonna break even when all this is done is what you're saying.

[Ken Coleman]

That's what we're trying and we're pushing for. Yes.

[Dave Ramsey]

And how long is this saga been going on?

[Ken Coleman]

Since February of last year.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. You probably got another year and a half. Yeah. Okay.

[Ken Coleman]

And in the meantime, we've been. For debt wise. I think that I'm trying to figure out budgeting.

[Dave Ramsey]

I think you're in the middle of a hurricane. I don't think you're getting out of debt while you're in the middle of a hurricane.

[Ken Coleman]

Thankfully, there's not much.

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. I think. I think you got one problem right now, and it's a big enough one that has taken on everything. I don't think you're. I think you're just your baby steps and all that stuff's all on hold till you get these lawsuits settled and get some checks and get this stinking renovation done. Then you get on with your life. And then. Yeah.

[Jasmine]

Did the new information she gave you change your mind on putting it up for sale and see if they can get a cash buyer on it?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah, I think I'm probably going to wait and get the settlement out of it. It sounds like they're going to probably get their 150. It sounds like this lawyer is probably doing a pretty decent job. But I really honestly, if state farms writing a check for the building inspector, you're probably going to get that money. The money you're hoping to get from, from the flipper. You're probably getting nothing because that flipper is probably broke. Most flippers are broke. And so I, I just, I, I'll bet you they got no cash and I'll bet you you're gonna get nothing out of them.

[Jasmine]

Which is probably why they sold it.

[Dave Ramsey]

The way in the street because they cheaped out on all the repairs and then they flipped it and.

[Jasmine]

Yeah.

[Dave Ramsey]

Instead of doing them properly. Yeah. And so it's a, an unscrupulous flipper. And so that's, that's what she's describing anyway. So yeah, I think she's, you know, you may get most of your 150 and at least enough of it that you're not going to be upside down in the house by the time the smoke clears on this, so to speak. Wow.

[Jasmine]

In the. And I'm.

[Dave Ramsey]

This is trying to think how to avoid this for somebody else listening.

[Jasmine]

Well, if the judgment against the flipper holds, if it goes through, would. Even if they have no cash, would a judge.

[Dave Ramsey]

Put liens on their other stuff?

[Jasmine]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

But that still doesn't mean you're gonna get anything.

[Jasmine]

Exactly. Okay. That's what I was trying to do.

[Dave Ramsey]

Broke people can't pay.

[Jasmine]

Right.

[Dave Ramsey]

You can sue them and it doesn't make them have money. They're still broke people. And so that's this misnomer that if I sue somebody I'm gonna get money. Not necessarily. They may be broke. I mean I've got judgment liens against people. I'll never see the money. They didn't pay their bill and they're never gonna pay their bill and they don't have money. It's not. No sense sitting up at night going, oh, if I. But I have a lawsuit, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter at all. The only people that really make money on lawsuits are lawyers. They're the only ones. So, Gosh, what a pain in the butt. I'm so sorry, Amelia. Sorry you're going through that. But I guess the way you avoid this in the future, folks, is you. You have a little more confidence in the real estate agents you're working with and with the quality of the home inspector. Yeah, obviously, this home inspector was inept.

[Jasmine]

I was thinking through that I'd become friends with a general contractor, because that's somebody you can theoretically trust and say, hey, would you walk through it?

[Dave Ramsey]

Yeah. Yeah. By the time she's finished with this, she'll be a general contractor. So that puts us out with the Ramsey show in the books. We'll be back with you before you know it. In the meantime, remember, there's ultimately only one way to financial peace, and that's to walk daily with the Prince of peace, Christ Jesus.

[Jasmine]

What if you could watch the Ramsey show before anyone else?

[Dave Ramsey]

Well, good news.

[Jasmine]

Now you can. For the first time ever, you can stream the show a day early in the Ramsey Network app. That's tomorrow's episode today. Real calls, real answers, real fast. It's free, it's easy, and the content might just change your life. So search Ramsey Network in Google Play or the App Store, or click the link in the show notes. You never know what calls coming up next.